Bearface!

2011-11-17T09:48:00.001-05:00

Marc has another comedy night coming up at the Princess Cafe, so it was time for another anthropomorphized microphone poster! Maybe the last in the series of posters, but certainly not the last comedy night, and maybe not the last in the series of posters. I loved this idea when I had it, but I'm still not totally satisfied with it. It needed to be finished though, and so it is.
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Slogging through my still back-logged Google Reader I kept seeing Bill Murray posters, and finally found out the were all for Please Post Bills at Gallery 1988. Awesome, awesome show.

Not surprisingly, DKNG threw down my favourite with William James Murray. So good.
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I got an email from White Elephant in Hamilton this week that they were running low on my hankies and wanted more. The most exciting thing about this is that it gives us an excuse to go and shop at White Elephant this weekend!

(Seriously though, the most exciting part is actually that they sell my stuff, because their shop is awesome, and it means I'm being sold alongside other awesome people like Jenna Rose and others.)
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And, here's another new product pic from Twitter. Yes, I finally have towels with bikes on them. At some point I need to do a bike graphic that's more true to what I ride, but this design obviously works better on hankies and these very classic style towels.

2011-11-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

Finished that poster up above a week or two ago. Final version ended up having "and" instead of "with," between the two names, but I like the way "with" looked better, so that's what you get here. More Lost Type Co-op. They just dropped two new fonts this week, and they're definitely still killing it. So good.
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So much stuff going on! Lots of things to get ready for BRFC's first Stitch 'n' Kitsch as a full fledged member (like the little trees you can see in the background here). A new Cafe Comedy night poster is in the works, there's some Starlight stuff, some QSY stuff, and, of course, my day job. Really wish I just had the extra stuff to do. Maybe one day?

In personal news, I have to go to the dentist tomorrow morning. Cavities. Somehow I didn't go to a dentist for like 10 years, and no cavities were found. 6 months later I go to a new dentist and there are cavities. Bad dentist, or 6 months of terrible brushing?
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For awhile now my intention has been to go to Android with my next cell phone, but this monolith iPhone case/projector is giving me more reason to want an iPhone. Pretty awesome.
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Cabin Porn is a blog that instantly got added to my reader, and then immediately became one of my most looked forward to 'reads.' So pretty. I want to print in this place (and maybe nap upstairs...)
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Want. Fisher-Price A-Frame (also from Cabin Porn)
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Jenna showed me this amazing quilt. I may be biased because it is in our wedding colours, but it is pretty damn perfect. Definitely want.

2011-10-26T00:37:00.000-04:00

Turns out when you have a wedding that involves a lot of hands on stuff, then go away for a few weeks, you really miss out on a lot of stuff. Playing catch-up now on work (see quickly produced poster above), tv, and blog reading now that we're back. I've already gone through tonnes of stuff and my Google Reader is still listing 1000+. Does it list anything higher than that? Like would it list 2000+? I don't want to find out.

Anyway, I obviously missed a bunch of cool stuff while I was gone, so I thought I'd share some with you.
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Poster process videos from DKNG. The Explosions one is what got me there, and then I had to watch the Black Keys one, because it is an amazing poster. I'm sure pretty much all of them are equally awesome though.

I get lost in these videos. They make me wish I had a better grasp of working with textures.
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Trip Print Press video. Trip Print is a Toronto-based letterpress studio. Pretty much every time I read mention of Trip Print, it talks about how awesome his studio is and how much people just want to spend time there. I can believe it. When this video ended I was disappointed, and a little angry. It's way too short.
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"Bear gobbles up pies at B.C. pizza joint." My kinda bear. I love that he tried going back for more, twice.
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I've yet to back anyone on Kickstarter, but I think Ruler Pencil might end up being my first.
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So very sad that I missed the fall colours edition from Field Notes. The Fire Spotter Edition looks like the best set yet. Hopefully Bon Mot will get some in and I can grab a set there. Every once in awhile I think about getting a colours subscription, but I just don't think I need 2 packs of each colours set (though I did buy 2 of Raven's Wing, that one was pretty great.)
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Most of this was via Coudal's Fresh Signals. What a great blog. They really pile up when you don't read them every day though!

2011-10-24T23:45:00.000-04:00

Honeymoon update 2. We're back home.

Some updated stats:
- weeks married - a few
- states travelled through - a bunch
- kilometers travelled - a lot (5000+ I think...)
- calories eaten - a disgusting amount
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I had good intentions to keep people updated on here as we went along, however driving for a number of hours each day can be really tiring, and by the end of each day I really didn't want to do much except plan the next day and then go to bed.

Now I'm already back to work, and everything already seems far gone. Once I go through all the photos and get them up online, I'll re-cap it all for you. Suffice to say, it was an amazing trip. We made it all the way down to Savannah (which is an amazingly beautiful city and which I'm already itching to return to) and back. We went zip-lining, and rode roller-coasters (which I've long had a fear of); we swam in the ocean, and we hiked up a mountain; we looked at old houses, and stayed in a modern cabin (Lost River Modern, it's amazing); we spent time around thousands of tourists, and we spent time completely by ourselves. It was all over the map, literally and figuratively, and I'm so happy we went and did it.
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Speaking of work, I forgot to share some more work I've done for Marc at the Princess Cafe recently.

While we were gone Marc had a crazy busy weekend. One part of it was having the 2nd Princess Cafe Comedy Night. I worked the poster into my busy pre-pre-wedding schedule, and am pretty pleased with it. I think Jenna suggested the vaudeville hook when I was working on the last Comedy Night poster, and I'm happy I decided to try it out for this one. Now I have to figure out what the microphone is going to do for the next one!

That same night, Marc also launched his new late-night grilled cheese stand called Cheeses Murphy. I crammed this work into my even busier pre-wedding schedule, and worked on edits on the road because I wanted to work on this project with him so badly. I'm mostly happy with how it turned out, but am glad he wants to make some changes to what's on the menu, because it gives me some more time to make a few changes to how the menu looks.

Since I don't really do illustrations Branko Vranic drew up Cheeses himself for Marc, and I set to work trying to put some things together that did the image justice. Luckily, Lost Type just released Oil Can not that long ago, and as soon as I saw where Branko had gone, I knew it would work perfectly (and I had been dying to use it!). Actually, every typeface used on the Cheeses work is from Lost Type. They are releasing some pretty great stuff over there.

Cheeses Murphy basically redresses the Princess Twin lobby for Marc to sell sandwiches out of, so he had me design up some big posters, as well as standard smaller menus, to give the place its look. After Jenna and I got home on Saturday night, we popped over there to check it out and I was really excited to see everything printed and up.

Oh, and the food is good too! Marc was working on his bacon jam recipe while we were gone, and it's pretty awesome. The Lumberjack is a great one too, hearty. Looks like there'll be some late-night snacking in my future, as I still have to try the rest of them!

2011-10-08T23:29:00.000-04:00

Honeymoon update 1.

Stats:

- weeks married - 1

- states travelled through - 5

- kilometers travelled - 1063

- calories eaten - too many

We left KW yesterday afternoon, with our new bumper 'sticker' (thanks for making it a magnet Celene!! Also, thanks for making it!) proudly displayed on the back of our car. 600km's and more time than it probably should have taken (mostly bad Ontario traffic), we stopped near Scranton, PA. This morning we got up and continued on to Philadelphia for the afternoon.

Pennsylvania, and most of New York state, have been surprisingly treed and pretty. I'm actually sad that we passed through most of NY in the dark, as there seemed to be endless tree covered hills, and every small town downtown we passed through looked like it was post-card perfect (I love a good small-town downtown).

Philadelphia itself seemed pretty cool. Obviously we went to Love park, and then found some oversized game pieces that made me pretty happy.

We did a pretty rush job of the whole thing. I ate a cheesesteak at Pat's King of Steaks, we hit up some local crafter stores (Art Star and Nice Things... Handmade), then Honey's Sit 'n' Eat, where Jenna had an amazing quesadilla, and I had what basically amounted to another cheesesteak. Thanks to Design*Sponge and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives respectively for highlighting those spots. Glad we made it to them.

After dinner made a quick stop by the liberty bell (felt we shouldn't miss it, not unlike the cheesesteak) then we powered on past Baltimore and into Arlington, Virginia. We're real close to all the big stuff in Washington DC right now. That's what's on tap for tomorrow. The main monuments, the Smithsonian, and I guess the White House too.

So far I am loving our new GPS. I still doubt it takes us on the smartest routes sometimes, but it's tonnes better than our old one. Also loving our new car stereo deck. Plugging the ipod in is so much better than trying to tune new FM stations to play it through all the time.

Up to this point I've been 'live tweeting' our honeymoon (much to Jenna's displeasure), so if you want to know what we're up to each day, check out @bearfacejohnson.

Can't wait to share photos of the wedding, and the process of getting everything ready for it. Look for that sometime after the honeymoon. And then maybe after Stitch 'n' Kitsch even...

2011-09-14T11:25:00.001-04:00

More new posters. Those in the know may notice that my posters of late are very Lost Type heavy. Loving their fonts. LOVING. A tip for you, if you're doing anything design-wise lately, check out Lost Type. Pay What You Can for awesome fonts.

This Les Breastfeeders poster is possibly my raciest poster ever. Says a lot about my design preferences I think...

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In life news, Jenna just had her gall bladder out on Monday. Bit of a wrench in the gears of wedding prep, but she should be pretty good to go by the end of the month. That, the wedding, and some other factors are making this a wicked stressful time, but we'll get through it. And then we get to leave for 2 weeks, so that will be nice. I just have to plan the trip now!!

2011-09-04T11:32:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago I was asked to do a rush poster for a labour day club night at Starlight. Looking for a quick solution, I started thinking about what ideas come to mind when I think of labour. After I ruled out a poster involving babies, I moved on to unions. Union logos can be very iconic and meaningful, so I decided to take a stab at one for a fictional DJ union. There's still something about it that I wasn't completely satisfied with, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to slap it on everything.
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Our wedding is less than a month away, which is pretty terrifying considering we still have a bunch of stuff we'd like to do for it. It's pretty exciting too though, as we'll get to share it with everyone there, and then I'll get to share all the little details we've created on here. Super proud of it all.
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Speaking of our wedding, last weekend was my bachelor weekend. Marc, Shane and I headed up to Ottawa to visit the Beau's brewery, do some camping and play a little disc golf. Pretty perfect weekend. I wish Sean could have been there though.

2011-08-14T20:35:00.000-04:00

My 'bestie' Marc over at the Princess Cafe has scheduled a comedy night in September, and he asked me to put together a poster for him. A fun little project. Hopefully the night goes well and there will be more in the future.
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Jenna and I went to Hamilton this weekend to visit the Beehive Collective's craft fair. It was pretty great. Lots of nice stuff on sale there. We bought a couple things from Jenna Rose, and some awesome Halifax-related prints from Chris Foster. Jenna has liked Jenna Rose's stuff for awhile now, and got me into it too, and Chris Foster was completely new to us, and an awesome surprise. I bought a hanky from Jenna Rose, and now I get what people have meant when they've said they don't want to blow their nose on my hanky's because they like them too much. It's super nice, and has bears (and other outdoor animals) on it!
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The other highlight of our Hamilton trip was that I dropped off some of my handkerchiefs for consignment at White Elephant. White Elephant is an awesome shop, full of really nice stuff, so it's a total honour to have my stuff there. I hope Hamiltonians like them!

2011-07-07T17:33:00.000-04:00

Yup, still feeling busy. Thought I'd update so you can see what I've been up to, though if you follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter, you probably know about all of this.

Up above is the front and back cover I did for the 'Home' issue of WLU's Blueprint magazine. Pretty happy with it. I might have done something different if I had a little more time, but I had all of those little houses left over from when I did this coaster set and was happy to get to use them for something. On the back you'll find a house I lived in as a kid in Brantford, and our current house (the most boring of the bunch). The front is Jenna's parents' house. Definitely a home-y place.
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After a fairly successful Spring Stitch 'n' Kitsch sale, where I was asked multiple times about a business card, I finally made up some business cards. Heavy stock. I had them in time for the first Uptown Flea, which I participated in, on the first Car Free Sunday. I don't know if I'll sell at the next Car Free Sunday, I kind of want to check out what's going on!
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I finally did a 2 successful 2 colour print, of a line of poetry that's always stuck in my head. Sorry for the crappy Blackberry in my workroom photo. Sold one so far! At least it was a good training exercise for a big important print I'll be doing soon.
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Finally, on the home front, Ron and I rented a stump grinder and got rid of the stump from the apple tree we cut down over the winter. Pretty fun, and tiring, couple hours.
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Obviously there's been lots of other things done and not done since I last posted too, but that's a bit of it. Wedding planning needs to amp up soon and fast, so it may be awhile before I'm back on here.

2011-05-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

Seems about time for an update. More than time, really.

Recently finished the above poster for Danny Michel at the Starlight. Danny loved it, which is awesome, and I've made a modified version for him to send to other venues as his tour poster. Pretty awesome to think that it'll be up in other cities.

I tagged a little self-promo on the bottom of that version, and since my blogger address would look kind of lame, and by etsy one wouldn't be appropriate, I finally bought www.bearface.ca and tagged that on there. It only links to here for now, but I've got plans. Just have to make time to enact them.
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Speaking of plans, my bike plans are finally almost finished. Just need some bar tape and I'll be done with working on it for now. Got some brakeless riding in there for a bit, but finally put a brake on, and really like riding with the additional safety. It was a little nerve-wracking riding brakeless...

Got out for a long-ish ride this evening, and loved it so much. After everything I read about riding fixed, I didn't think it could all be true, but it really doesn't disappoint. It's exciting to have a bike I'm excited about riding again.

You can check out a flickr set of pictures of my bike here.
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Trying to work on some new stuff for Stitch 'n' Kitsch. It's kind of scary soon. June 11. I've got enough ready to go, but I just wanted to go in with more... We'll see what happens.

2011-04-12T00:05:00.002-04:00

It's been way too long since I've updated here. I've got a lot of things on my plate lately. I did finally get around to updating my gigposters page recently, but you've probably already seen most of it here.

I've also started using Pinterest. Some of what I would usually post on here (cool images, things I want to buy, etc) has ended up being dumped over there, so if you want to check out some neat stuff, you can check out my pinterest page.

The rest of my time keeps getting filled up by various things. This weekend, for example, was yard work, some custom printing, some freelance design, and planning a workshop with Love Made.

Lots of stuff on the agenda too. This blog may move onto an actual site at some point, once I get around to making it; there's a wedding to plan (with lots of printed materials to design!); and a bike to finish building (it's at a shop to be powder coated right now! Can't wait to get it back). So all that and more is what's up around here lately. Maybe I'll have some cool links for you to peruse soon...

Interesting fact: in the last month this blog has seen a lot of Google hits from the search words Diane Lane Outsiders, and various combinations of similar things. I cannot figure out why. I know I have mentioned her before, but there are a tonne of other things that come up first when you google that. Weird.

2011-02-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

Been pretty busy lately with various things. Bunch of Queen Street Yoga posters, some club posters (like that pretty basic 'artist photo' poster up above, not my favourite type of poster to do, but I try to make them a little interesting) and a new BRFC project or two in the works. I've been amassing a tonne of links to share, but just haven't gotten around to it...
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At work it's film guide time again. Time to flip through about 8 million images online. Always interesting to see what stands out in that time.

One of the films we're playing in March/April is the Oscar nominated Dogtooth. Sounds like a weird one, but one I'm intrigued by. LOVE this poster for it, though you won't see it in the film guide. I described the poster to my boss as ballsy. Ballsy to make a movie poster like that. It's more something you'd see for a concert. Just a simple image. Love it.

It's unlikely that we'll show I Saw The Devil, but I can't stop going back to look at this poster for it. Striking, for sure. No pun intended. Really love it. Makes all the other posters for it look like shit.

We showed Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives a few months ago, and I wish this poster for it had been making the rounds at the time, because it definitely would have made it's way home with me. Seriously, more of this please, film companies! Criterion has had some good covers done by Daniel Clowes recently, but more movie posters would be awesome too.
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And, just to burn off a couple more links that have piled up:

Want. (Ben Ong shared this on Google. LOVE.)

Neat. (I think Jenna sent me this)

AWESOME. (Super clever monolith art. Pretty sure this came from the amazing Coudal feed)

2011-01-26T23:56:00.003-05:00

I finally started collecting the Complete Peanuts series, with the 1950-54 set pictured above. I'm pretty sure this is my favourite era of Peanuts, so I can't wait to re-read them. The books and box are beautiful, not surprisingly, since they're designed by Seth. His lettering is perfect for it, and the vignettes he used in the opening and closing pages really emphasize the seriousness that underlines Peanuts, as well as give the series a distinctly Seth touch.
(edit: I was just reading the above linked info about the series in which Seth is quoted: "I want to emphasize the sophistication of Schulz’s work by creating a package that is both austere and direct. I would like to try to reflect the quiet and melancholy of the strip in a package that hopefully, shows the proper amount of respect for Mr. Schulz." Obviously, I think he nailed it.)
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You may or may not know this already, but I rarely ever wash my jeans, and I wear the same pair almost every day. Turns out I should have done this as a 'study' rather than my regular practice, 'cause I could have ended up in the news. I know people wash their jeans more than I do, and wear them less than I do, but the idea of washing them every day, or even every week is ridiculous to me. Jeans are rugged and durable, so why not treat them that way? Good enough for miners to wear every day, good enough for me to wear every day.
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Almost every designer I follow shared this video in one way or another, so I thought I should pass it on too: The House Industries trailer. So much awesomeness.
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From Julia N. on facebook: Generic Dr. Pepper gallery. I love store brand/generic sodas. Dr. Pepper versions are, of course, the best since Dr. Pepper is awesome, and the names they come up with to evoke the original are usually pretty entertaining. Dr. Thunder, Dr. A+, Dr. Pop, etc. The names are amazing! Personal favourite, by name and experience: Dr. Smooth.
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Anson tweeted about a blog that discusses user interface design that seems pretty interesting: Little Big Details. I LOVE this kind of stuff, because these really are the little touches that make the user experience so much better if they're done right, and ruin it if they're not. When Google Labs announced this new favicon tweak I got really excited. It also helped me clean up my inbox, as apparently it doesn't could when you have more than 20 unread emails. I feverishly went through everything and got down from 30+ to 18 , so now I can see what I've got unread in a very small spot, and I have less unread. Look how that little UI tweak helped me! Now if I could manage to have less tabs open...
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Herman Melville has 25 words for Beard. Personal favorite? "Long, trailing moss hanging from the bough of some aged oak." At least I think that's it. There are some real good ones in there.
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Camper Kart and Camper Bike. Neat, cool and clever.

2011-01-21T16:11:00.001-05:00

Getting a bit more work done. Some yoga posters, some ads, and that poster up above. Tomorrow I finally get down to work on wedding invitations for some friends. Looking forward to that, at the same time that it's a little scary to do work for friends. Not as scary as doing my own invitations will be, but still scary.
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The National Post shows some of the cover design process of Seth. Pretty cool to see. I can never say enough how much I love Seth's lettering and style. So nice. (from Drawn)
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Just in Time, Or A Short History of Production. Amazing looking art installation. I'd love to see footage of it running.
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Blerg. I was supposed to get more done today, but so far I have not. Fridays off always disappear way too quickly.

2011-01-07T14:14:00.000-05:00

Still finding it hard to get creative lately, but I'm working on it. When I was originally thinking about doing a Plants and Animals poster, I went to the obvious place and thought about doing something with plants, and animals. In the end I started thinking about Montreal, where both bands on the bill are from. I always forget that Montreal has a subway system (maybe because I've never been there...), but it seems like something distinctive about the city. Since I love trains and subways, and maps, I thought that might be a good place to go for their poster. I hope they like it!

Actual Montreal subway (metro) map for reference.
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If you haven't heard anything about Vivian Maier yet, you should check her out. You should start by watching the video here. Really cool story that's making the rounds. Thanks so much to Sheila for sharing it with my in a comment the other day. Beautiful images.
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That's it. Time to get on to my to do list. Tonight is birthday dinner with some good friends, and viewing of Back to the Future, one of my all-time favourites, on 35mm at the Original Princess tonight. Looking forward to it!

2011-01-05T17:43:00.006-05:00

I have had 7 rolls of film kicking around in a shoebox for the past 9 or so years. I think at the time I took the pictures I was probably low on cash and figured I didn't need to spend it on developing the film. Over the years I'd look at them from time to time and think I should do something with them, but I never did, for reasons ranging from money to 'just where do you take film now anyway?' to laziness.

I finally took them in, and sadly only got about 3 rolls worth of stuff. I guess maybe if I hadn't let them sit so long, they would have been better off... Oh well, at least I got something. They're not the most exciting pictures in the world, but it's kind of neat to see them, lost for all this time.

That's me up above, taken sometime in the past, with an action sampler. I'd put it at about 2000-2001-ish, considering the hat, and the fact that I'm wearing contacts. Yes, I am playing hacky sack.

I'm sure you'll see more of these soon.

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New add to my google reader: Someone Else Will Put it Back. Love it. I never understand why people can't just put things back where they go. Especially things that will spoil if left out of a cooler. I do enjoy when the places things end up are especially weird though.

Related to this, I think my biggest shopping pet peeve may be people who leave empty coffee cups on store shelves. I saw this so much during the shopping season and I can't stand it. How hard is it to hold on to your cup, or put it in your cart, for just a few minutes longer? Ridiculous.

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Want. House Industries x Herman Miller Japan blocks. Damn, nice work. The details! "Took us a while to sniff out the tiny brown kraft packing tape, but solving specky details like “tape scale” allows me to sleep at night." Seriously. You have to love that attention to detail.

If you happen to be in Japan at all, please pick one of these up for me. Thanks!

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Homeless guy with golden radio voice. Seriously, that title does not lie.

edit: started this post yesterday and Jenna just informed me that job offers are already coming in for that guy. Nice.

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Love this ConverseXAce Hotel shoe. Good look.

2011-01-03T23:50:00.000-05:00

Finally updated the header on here. I've been meaning to for a while, but just finally got around to it. Sounds like most things with me.

Up there is one of my trivets spotted in action on New Year's Eve. Looks good peeking out there from under the dish, if I do say so myself. Anyway, happy new year and merry christmas and all that. The holidays were nice, but not relaxing enough, and I'm having some serious trouble getting down to work and being creative. I'm sure things will get back on track soon, but until then, links!
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More than 1000 dead birds fall from the sky. What?? What makes this extra sad to me is that the red-winged blackbird is my favourite bird. Sad.
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Speaking of birds, you may know we kind of favour bird images around our house. Jenna recently found these two different antique packaging items that I really need to keep an eye out for now (on top of this Hush-shak can I'm itching to own):

Ronson Oily Bird lubricant. Clever, clever use of the spout as beak. Love it.

Snow Bird Dust Mop Polish. So pretty.
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If I were a snowboarder, I'd probably want this HBCxBurton snowboard. It's like a Bay blanket on a board!
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I know this is a little late, but Black Thought throws down some beautiful vocals in this video of The Roots doing The Christmas Song. Multi-talented vocalist! Love it.
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Also a little late, is this article about the novelty industry struggling with creating glasses for NYE 2011. Some pretty ridiculous solutions there.

2010-12-22T23:08:00.003-05:00

Finished that poster last night. For some DJ nights my friend Frank has coming up. It seems hard to tell on here, but 'coolest' is in an icy blue. Aside from being a DJ, Frank also runs the UW Weather Station, so I figured that if you combined that, 'coolness' and 'love,' you get a thermometer with a heart on the bottom... Fitting?
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The subject matter of this Christmas song is one I am definitely familiar with. Gift Card by Thao. Well dealt with. Totally feel the sentiment.
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A sad/sweet christmas wish from Patches. Poor Glasses.
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Fonts in Use. This is my kind of blog. Doing film guide layout involves its fair share of font identification on posters. I can do a fair bit of it on my own, or at least throw up a close facsimile, but I also do my fair share of googling 'moviename poster font' for the tough nuts. Hoping this blog will be entertaining and helpful.
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In this essay by Ricky Gervais he says some things I have said almost exactly many times:
'As an atheist, I see nothing “wrong” in believing in a god. I don’t think there is a god, but belief in him does no harm. If it helps you in any way, then that’s fine with me. It’s when belief starts infringing on other people’s rights when it worries me. I would never deny your right to believe in a god. I would just rather you didn’t kill people who believe in a different god, say. Or stone someone to death because your rulebook says their sexuality is immoral.'

'“Do unto others…” is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is -‐ a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell."'

It's a little long winded, but still a good read.
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I'm sure this is making the rounds pretty heavily, but I gotta link it here anyway: You're A Comic Sans Criminal. You tell 'em!

2010-12-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

Dying for Christmas to be here. Need a few extra days off work, and an excuse to do nothing and not feel bad about it. I just spent a little over around 2 hours clearing our my Reader (only 27 unread items!!) and linking stuff here, and now I feel like I've wasted too much time... Oh well.
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Just realized I haven't posted pictures of our table at Stitch 'n' Kitsch yet. There's one up above. Click it to see it big. Sorry for the ugly background, there was stuff going on behind us, AND we were freaking out and making a mess of our own stuff trying to set up.
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It was weird and exciting to start viewing this beautiful video that I came to from a link by Coudal, and hear music made by friends of mine as the soundtrack. Same thing happens every time I hear them in a Ford commercial too...
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Olly Moss totally killed it on these Star Wars posters, as he often does.
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Czech postage stamps. Some pretty awesome stuff in there. Highlights for me come all in row: Anniversary of TV broadcasting; Anniversary of Radio broadcasting; Workers and banner; Factories and Rising Sun.
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I haven't bought into the whole selvedge jeans thing, but I love this guy, Roy, and his one-man made jeans. That's hard work and commitment. I can respect a $275 price tag on a pair of jeans that one guy put that much work and soul into. I think I'll stick with my 50-ish dollars a pair Levi's at the rate of about 1.5 pairs a year though. I don't make $275 jeans money, yet.
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I wish I was into playing guitar enough to justify spending $45 on a strap. I would definitely buy this Couch x Timber one. A guitar strap with bearded dudes, tree stumps and crossed axes? Yes, please!
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A little creepy but an interesting development. BMW uses afterimage to brand their logo in viewer's minds.
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Frequently I wish we had a fireplace or wood stove, for the warmth, and smell, but also for the excuse to chop wood. Now I specifically wish we could have this stove, because it looks awesome, and is super efficient.
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I wish I was friends with Matt Stevens, so I could have a copy of this limited run Air Max 1 a day book. I love this series of illustrations, and it looks pretty sweet in book form.
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I don't think I've linked to this yet, and I can't believe. This Delorean external hard drive could just be the best thing ever to store your Time Machine back-ups on. Seriously. Amazing. Clever. Detailed. Awesome.

2010-12-15T01:09:00.000-05:00

Somehow I'm always busy at Christmas-time. We recently streamlined film guide production at the Princess, so theoretically I should be less busy than other years at this time. But then BRFC had a really great day at Stitch 'n' Kitsch, and at the same time Bon Mot opened in Uptown Waterloo and started selling our stuff. So suddenly we were out of stock on pretty much everything (a good problem, I know), and I've been relegated back to the basement in my free time, printing up more stuff.

I can't really complain though, I'm still loving doing it, and the response we're getting is pretty amazing. For going from not doing this at all a few months ago, to knowing that something I've printed is in someone's house, or is being given to a friend or parent as a gift, or is even on someone's Christmas tree, this is all pretty cool. BRFC has even been mentioned on two blogs recently, which you can see here and here. It's so cool to see the stuff in other peoples' homes!

Long story short, I haven't been posting because I've been busy. But I'm so happy being busy because everything going on right now is awesome. If you've bought something from BRFC, I really have to thank you, because you've helped to make this an amazing year.

Enough blathering. Here's some links...
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From Andre in Jenna's office: Flamingo's gather in the shape of a flamingo. Seriously!?
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In case of holiday emergencies: Altoids tin martini kit. I don't drink martini's, or mixed/shaken drinks much at all, but this is a great idea.
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1987 Nissan Pao concept car. LOVE it.
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R2D2 headphones. Pretty awesome. Not for me though. I'm kinda thinking of buying a pair of these though. What I find annoying is that I like the look, but I don't know if I want noise canceling. I use my headphones mostly at work, and kind of need to hear other people around me at the same time.
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It's kind of lame that this is done by Buick, and the conversation is pretty awkward, but this video makes me pretty excited about the idea of visiting Chicago. Good thing that two people I love are moving there soon!
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I LOVE this Arcade Fire poster. This one too. The problem? I'm not a huge Arcade Fire fan, so the idea of having a poster of theirs up feels a little weird to me. This actually happens to me a lot. Particularly with Andrew Bird posters. So many nice ones out there, but I've never even really listened to him! Conflicted!
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And now I've eaten up too much of your time. I keep meaning to post more, shorter posts. And then I don't.

2010-11-24T19:33:00.001-05:00

Things are moving along at BRFC. Getting real close to Stitch n Kitsch on December 4, and I'm getting real anxious about getting everything done that I want to have done for then. Got a prototype made of a new product on the weekend, now we don't know if we can get the material to make them or not! Still soldiering on though. Only thing to do, really. Just finished a new coaster design that's totally pandering to a specific market we're expecting to see at the show, let's hope they like it!

That's the poster for the upcoming show up there above. Designed by Sheila, who you can find over here.

I have to say, I am SUPER excited to be selling at an SnK show for the first time.
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Some items of mine recently got featured by people I don't know, which is exciting. On this blog here, and in this etsy treasury here. Lots of views on my stuff now! Nice to know people at least like looking at my stuff online!
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Art of Manliness meets Etsy in this storque guest curator spot. My kinda stuff. (unfortunately, none of my stuff though... somebody else's handkerchiefs at least.)
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Talking to your kids about Star Wars. An excellent PSA. Lots of things to think about when you have kids. How young is too young to see the original trilogy? 'Cause it would be nice for them to see before they get all tainted by the school kids and the new stuff...
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Cookie Monster auditions for SNL. I know this is all over the place, but I had to re-link. Gotta support the Muppets.
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I want to go to here!

2010-11-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

One of the funny things about doing promotional design work, is that I tend to spend a fair bit of time thinking about things that are kind of far off in the future. At the Princess, I'm often working on things that are two months ahead. I tend to get excited about movies as I'm working on the film guide they're in, then forget about them by the time they're playing because the distance between production and show time is so big. Up above are two text lock ups I put together for the Starlight new years poster. Have you started thinking about new years yet? Well I've been working on it!

Pretty happy with how these worked out, so I thought I'd put them up here solo. I think I'll be using the Charless one again somewhere, as I think it suits him. I hope he does too!

If you click 'em, you should be able to see them bigger. If you wanted to that is...
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This is the prettiest camera I've seen in awhile. Seriously, I've been looking at other cameras for the last little while and thinking "yeah, I'd like one of those someday." Then I saw this and thought, "I want THIS NOW." Really nice work making a modern camera and making it look amazingly old school. Impressed.
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Speaking of impressed:
Peering out of the windows of the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson takes in the planet on which we were all born, and to which she would soon return.

Love this picture.
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Product placement on Days of Our Lives. Hilarious, and a little scary that this is what things are coming to. But still hilarious.

2010-11-14T17:14:00.001-05:00

When Marc recently ordered a bunch of coasters from me for the Princess Cafe, he asked me to make some with a projector on them. I've been working on how that would look, and I'm pretty sure that the image above is going to be the end result. I hope it ends up printing okay.

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Started off today with some design work for a yoga teacher in Guelph, and a viewing of Vanishing Point. Spotted this production company logo in the opening credits which apparently somebody else also thought was cool, since they put it up on youtube. Simple and awesome.
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The more I see of the design for Frank, in Austin, the more I LOVE it. Seriously, it's making the rounds and it is awesome. Check out this run down that The Dieline posted. Really, really nice stuff. Thorough too. I love how they even went to town all over the outside of the building.

Actually, a number of things designed by the firm behind it, Helmsworkshop, have come to my attention of late, and they are putting out some amazing stuff all around. For example, go here and pay special attention to the Optimistic Beverages logo. Forget that, just look at everything on there. Nice stuff.
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These might be the cutest bird-feeders I've ever seen. Too bad I've only seen them for 99 euros. That's a little much for me!
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Shepard Fairey, and other people, have designed manhole covers in Milan? Awesome.
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Dueling Bears by BoyGirlParty. This print is adorable. I've seriously probably looked at it once a day for the past week or two.

2010-11-11T23:53:00.000-05:00

I'm really holding it down with being inconsistent with my blogging. Honestly, I've been pretty busy all around. Lots of work being done outside of work lately, like those two posters up above, and printing items for brfc.etsy.com and the upcoming Stitch 'n' Kitsch show on December 4. The posters each reference something different that I'm a big fan of; Saul Bass & toggle switches. I have been tweeting a fair bit lately, so if you want to know what's going up with me personally, check out the feed up there on the right.

If you've been looking for links to stuff I like, sorry! Here are some for you now though.
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It Would Have Been Cooler as a Van. Classic movie vehicles re-imagined as vans. Awesome. So hard to pick a favourite, but I pretty much have to pick the Back to the Future Delorean any time I get the chance.
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History of video game consoles. Thorough. Seriously. Like, so thorough I've barely even started to look at it. Excited to slog through the whole thing when I have some time (so, never?).
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Apple: Their tablet computer history. More thorough, nerdy chronicling of techno-history. Another thing I'm excited to read through...
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Heroes of Folk. Love these. Love the classic American folk hero stories.
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Jack Purcell mids in melton wool? Yes please!
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10 reasons to grow a beard. As if you needed one.
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CBC 75th anniversary logo. Nice.
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The evolution of the geek.
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That's enough for now! Maybe more sometime?

2010-10-03T11:27:00.001-04:00

It's hard, in all good conscience, to call the above picture 'the saddest picture ever,' considering all the pictures out there of war, and genocide, and whatnot, but damn if it isn't one of the saddest pictures ever, for me at least. Been feeling the desire to watch Big Bird sing "It's Not Easy Being Green" again, but I don't know if I'm up for that kind of crying, yet.

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It occurs to me that I don't think I mentioned it on here, so hopefully you heard me blather about it elsewhere, but this weekend we had a table in a craft show for the first time ever. I've been screenprinting handkerchiefs, coasters and trivets in our basement for awhile now, and we're starting selling them under the name BRFC (BeaRFaCe). The sale this weekend I was viewing as sort of a test run, and it went really well. So I'm projecting an Etsy site launch of Oct 16, and am writing up my application (and then printing my arms off if I get in) for the winter Stitch n Kitsch show. I uploaded some pictures of the BRFC table to flickr, that you can see here. Super proud of it right now, and thankful for everyone who bought something this weekend and said nice things, and especially for Jenna, who is a BIG part of BRFC, and has pretty much all the best ideas related to it, which helps me get down to the business of printing.

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In other stuff I'm involved in news, my good friend Marc just took over the Princess Cafe from my boss at the Princess Cinemas. Though many things are staying the same, Marc's doing some redesigning this weekend, including new menus and other paper goods that I got to throw together for him. Really just an update on the old stuff, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks! Long story short, go to the Princess Cafe this week and support Marc!!

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Maybe things will slow down soon, and I'll get back to sharing links with you. I was excited last night to get my Google Reader below 300 unread items, so you can see I'm a little out of the loop right now...

2010-09-10T00:14:00.001-04:00

That just might be my favourite poster I've done yet. Excited to see it printed. Tried out a bit of a style I've been envying for quite some time.
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This NES coffee table is one of the most impressive things I've seen in awhile. Seriously amazing. The giant pull out controller is functional! Insane. The controller ports are outlets! So clever!
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Speaking of impressive, check out this Lego Ghostbusters scene. Shared by Sean via google. Nice stuff.
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To digress for a second, here's a quick shot of car-related things. I can be a fan of cars sometimes. I can't help it....

What a find! Over 50 Porsches found in a Ford dealership. Can you imagine finding that? Even just looking at the pictures is somewhat awe inspiring.

The BMW Isetta - Mid-century micro car. AKA that weird car Steve Urkel drove, if I'm not mistaken. Amazing looking little car.

Speaking of little cars, check out these great kid-sized reproductions of classic cars. Can you imagine having one of these as a kid? I'd go for the Porsche, not surprisingly. Okay, or the Jeep...
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Out of cars, and into.... a cab? This is a really cute story about a cab driver who makes people in his cab make "paintings" for him. Love it.
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I almost forgot this one. It's been haunting me. I keep going back to it and being amazed at how huge the boat looks. Can you imagine standing there in the shadow of it like that? Amazing. Just amazing. So impressive.
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Layer Tennis is tomorrow. Check it out. Mark Weaver is in it and he has made some stuff I love. Of course, he's up against the guy behind the Obama campaign, so it should be an amazing match. I had to edit this to add that this self portrait by Weaver is pretty much one of my favourite images on the internet.

2010-08-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

And my summer blogging hiatus-ey kind of thing continues. It's been a pretty awesome summer though. Old friends in town. Screen printing. Disc golf (finally made it to St. Thomas this weekend). Other stuff. Great summer.

But I've returned because there are things I have to share... Hold on for a tonne of links, and then another long break likely... Exciting things coming in the future though, I promise.
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This Patches comic is one of my favourites in a while. SO CUTE. And sad. Don't you just want to hug him?
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Speaking of wanting to hug comic characters, I think I might need to make my own Beartato pillow. I was tempted by the shirt, but realized I don't really wear brown anymore, so I figured it was impractical. BUT, I have been wanting a stuffed Beartato (this guy is close, but not quite, and yes, we do own one) for some time, and this looks like it's as close as it gets...
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Wow, Coca Cola made a great move in the re-branding of Mello-Yello. Nicely retro. The one thing I don't like, is that the can seems to be having an identity crisis, trying to make the retro look a little more modern with the citrus in the back. Take the citrus out and drop the outline on the text, and the whole thing looks a lot better. But still, nice work.
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The best Emmy's opening ever?
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Love this pin-up girl hot chocolate packaging. Clever.
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These bottled smoke art pieces are beautiful and a little haunting. Really nice stuff.
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The Birds art installation in Vancouver's Olympic Village. That's something that would be exciting to come across.
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United States Postal Service theoretical re-brand. Really nice. If they switched to this, I would be so jealous!
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Stubby Beer Bottles. While tall cans of Red Stripe have definitely taken over my summer drinking, I'll never not love a stubby. They do look a little silly when I'm holding them though...
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I guess that's it for now, maybe you'll hear from me again sometime.

2010-07-19T23:50:00.000-04:00

So I took a week off, and I fully intended to post numerous times during it, but then I mostly ended up ignoring my computer completely, which was pretty nice. The week featured Jane Bond disc golf, a picnic, rib/beer-fest and other things, as well as the beginning of a new project. Not bad.

Speaking of disc golf, I need to post a picture of the shirt design, and the special, limited-edition (10) disc golf sweat towels that I screened. That image up above is from the back of the shirt. Pretty happy with it.
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I always waver between thinking Best Made Co. axes are awesome, and thinking they're ridiculously overpriced. I guess if people will pay it, then they aren't over-priced, and either way, I can't stop loving the look and idea of them (as you may have noticed...). Here's a pretty good article on the founder of the company. I really like this line about him, and definitely know the feeling: “Peter is like a regular guy with an eccentric way of thinking, and he’s interested in things that function. You know he loves a Shaker table. He probably loves a yellow pencil or a bar of Ivory soap or a paper clip or a well-designed tube of toothpaste. It’s all about stuff that’s what it is.” I think you could add 'stapler' into that statement pretty easily.
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One of the cutest things I've seen on the internet in a while: Baby in a Watermelon. Thanks to Kaitlin for sharing that!
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Love this shorpy image of an old bar. They make the colored entrance lettering so cheerful!
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Did not know that this airplane rotary phone design was a Canadian design. That's something I would love to run into in a thrift store one day for sure.
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Speaking of Canadian design, this Hush-Shak oil can is very high on my list of things to keep an eye out for. I've always mostly avoided looking at oil cans while shopping, so as not to get into them and want to collect them, but now I've got to look, in case this thing is hiding in there somewhere. At least I can limit it to just wanting this right now. So pretty. Amazing colours. So perfect.
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Taking my dad to Hog Tails tomorrow, and taking my sister and he to try out disc golf at the arboretum on Wednesday. Definitely looking forward to both.

2010-07-08T17:00:00.001-04:00

Watched Love the Beast this past weekend. Great little doc. Emotional story about Eric Bana and the car he has owned and loved since he was a teen. Good movie both for car stuff, and for realizing that at least some celebrities are regular people too.
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I want to go to the Levi's Tailor Shop. Impressive all around. They even have their own custom Field Notes sets.
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Hot stuff! Pin-Up images and their source photographs.
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The Girl Scouts logo was redesigned, and thankfully they did not screw up another Saul Bass classic. Instead it's a great revision that makes for a cuter, more modern female profile, and results in a great overall identity. Nice work.
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Paedomorphic flightlessness and taxonomic affinities of an enormous Recent bird or What, If Anything, is Big Bird. Love it.
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Sean shared this one on the google and I think it is adorable. Christopher Robin's toys.
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The hottest gadgets of the 80's.

2010-06-28T17:08:00.002-04:00

Even more excited for disc golf now after I spent a good chunk of time yesterday working on the colours for the image above to go on the front of the shirt, and the design for the back. Pretty happy with how it is turning out. I hope other people like it! I love seeing people wearing last year's. I can't decide if July 12th is now "only 2 weeks away" or "still 2 weeks away." I guess I also can't decide between being an optimist and a pessimist (or realist as Jenna might say...).
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Time to clean out the collection of things Coudal has posted recently that I've kept unread for one reason or another...

Original Pac-Man sketches. Neat!

The Evolution of the Hipster 2000-2009. I have the star tattoo's to prove my connection to the 2000-2001 Emo and Emo Redux eras, and apparently am now stuck in 2006 with the mountain man. Glad I never fell for the Ashton...

Movie poster font quiz on Mental Floss. I got 100%. This one is way easier than others as it lists all the titles that will come up. I didn't realize that until title 3... (I went back & changed one after I realized it...)

USB Typewriter. Great concept.

Subway slide. Awesome.

Alt/1977. Clever fake ads. Extremely well designed. Extremely. I want that pocket hi-fi.

Thomas Allen pulp paperbacks. I have seen these before, but don't think I've shared them on here. They are amazing.

George Lucas 1983 & 2005. Or, why the second Star Wars trilogy sucked.

A history of musicians who have demanded that Republican's stop playing their songs. David Byrne, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN? Why did the republicans ever think these people would be on board?

Lego Printer. Neat!

2010-06-17T09:27:00.000-04:00

Apparently these have found their way out to invitees now, so I feel okay posting them here now. This is a wedding invitation that I put together recently for a friend of Celene's. Pretty happy with it. It's taking place at a family cottage/boathouse, so I thought it might be good to highlight the location. The picture is one the bride sent me of the location that I tweaked a little. The bird in the chair/bird image is based on the bird in the picture, and I gave the image a distressed look so it has a more personal/diy feel to it, like the bride and groom stamped each one themselves. It's not the invitation that I would make for my own wedding, but I think it suits the location well, and the bride seems very happy with it, so I'm happy.

The rsvp echoes the back of the invite:

I haven't done much of it, but I've really liked doing wedding related design, so if you know someone who's looking to get some invitations created for them, I would likely be interested! As long as they're looking for something at least a little different from normal that is...

2010-06-16T09:39:00.006-04:00

A quick trip to the Criterion site today resulted, not surprisingly, in me looking at some very pretty dvd covers for a bit. Here are some highlights.

Stagecoach - I love pretty much everything about this cover. The colours are perfect. It's playful but not too playful, and the Criterion logo looks deliberately slightly offset to connote an older, imperfect printing style, which is a nice touch. Even though I've never seen this movie, I would put a poster version of this (sans the Criterion bar on the left) up on my walls for sure. It also makes me want to see the movie.

Make Way For Tomorrow - A Criterion cover by Seth? Awesome. If you have Seth create your book or dvd cover, I will want to consume the material inside. That's a sad but true fact. I take it as his personal endorsement. Should I?

Night Train to Munich - Like a vintage travel poster, but with terrifying action, and a subtle swastika. I wonder if this was created just for this cover, or was an original poster? Either way, I am impressed.

Two-Lane Blacktop - I know nothing about this film, but this cover, and the fact that it's a part of the collection, makes me want to see it. There's a whole lot of bad-ass going on on there. Okay, I just read the description, and now I definitely want to see it... Wow, Richard Linklater's Ten Reasons I Love Two-Lane Blacktop makes me want to even more!!

La Strada - BIG fan of this cover. Nicely done, great colours. Love the b&w with the red dot on the bottom image. It also helps that I think that Giulietta Masina is absolutely adorable in this film. This cover is a great reminder of that.

This site visit also reminded me that I need to buy the Criterion Bottle Rocket. Gotta round out the Criterion Wes Anderson collection.

2010-06-15T16:52:00.003-04:00

Seriously, where the hell have I been? I've still been stockpiling stuff to share with all of you, of course, I just haven't been sharing them.

Like this awesome picture of a church with a light up sign. Love it.

See?

Or, how would you like to see my favourite Nedroid comic in a while?

Pretty cute, eh?

Oh, and check this out, MOCA is going back to their 80's logo. Definitely a good call, always love a move like that (at least when your old logo is nice...)

I have looked at this Buzz Aldrin letterhead wayyy too many times. Partly because I think it is awesome, and partly because I had it marked unread to share, and so kept stumbling across it all the time.

Finally getting some things out of my Google Reader!

But stuff keeps piling up from all over!! For instance, I cam across I'm Comic Sans, Asshole thanks to Twitter, since I'm not all up on my McSweeneys Internet Tendency anymore.

It's a never-ending battle to keep up with neat things on the internet, and apparently I'm losing. I haven't even bothered to include pictures in my last two posts! What!?

To be truthful though, cool things on the internet aren't everything, so I'm actually pretty good overall. I think I've spent more time outside already this summer than I have in any summer since grade 8, and it's barely even started! Also, as of today, we've been homeowners for a year. Which is pretty awesome. And there's still projects in the works to tell you about sometime, whenever they get done.

So there you go, I haven't been here, but things are still good. And there's still plenty more stuff to come, either from my life, or my google reader, whenever the hell I get around to posting again.

2010-06-11T17:23:00.001-04:00

At some point I really need to own something by Jay Ryan. I've definitely talked about him before on here. I love his work. Today I found myself looking at this one again. Not that I think I might buy it, but part of me is always drawn back to it, and I don't really know why. It make me both sad and happy. And the little guy on the front (a recurring character in his work) is just so cute. There's a lot going on there.
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Looks like Southern Comfort is being re-branded, and it looks pretty nice! Scroll down and check out the 100-proof bottle. It's pretty for sure.
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Check out this amazing office at Pixar. It looks amazing! It would be fun to work in I'm sure.
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Here's a nice little video about billboard sign painters. Neat stuff. I do always love me a dying art.
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Pooljumpers: Catchers of the Ball
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No posts in awhile... Been on the internet less, in real life more. This one's been sitting here waiting to be posted since the 19th, so I thought I'd throw it up as is, before it sits any longer. Hopefully more to come soon-ish. Got a couple home projects I might have to share pictures of...
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Annnnnnd, apparently I screwed something up and didn't post this on the 1st like I meant to. Go me. More to come soon, I promise. For realz this time. Just about to start a post. I swear!

2010-05-18T09:11:00.000-04:00

Bears in a glass dome!

Also, it turns out there's more of the Jeff Canham birdhouses that I linked to the other day. Check them out here.
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I'm pretty sure I put this all together on Friday, then forgot about it, so here you go now.

Big week! Julia and Gord are in town and were over with Eileen last night. Already looking forward to getting together again. This weekend is Conan in Toronto, and hopefully a round of discgolf as I'm pretty sure Chicopee officially opens on Saturday. Awesome.
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The 2010 Vader Project. Damn. Neat stuff. Love the flocked one with the brain. This gas mask one popped up elsewhere in my travels. All gas masks should look like that...
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So it looks like a lot of people whose blogs I read have gone to the Brimfield Antique Show, and now I'm itching to go. An excuse to go back to Massachusetts? Maybe!!

Seriously though, check out ACL's day 1 and day 2, with more to come it would seem. The line "I probably saw more waxed canvas yesterday than in the last five years combined" pretty much makes me salivate. Some amazing looking stuff in there.

And here's design*sponge's look at Brimfield. For the ladies...

So, September 7-12, eh?
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A couple days ago there was a nedroid comic that had me terrified that there were no more coming, and then he posted this adorable comic. And the mouse-over listed a url that takes you to this site, which is even more adorable! "This is my best friend Reginald. He is the best friend I have ever had!"
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Hammarhead is putting out some pretty sweet motorcycles. I'll take a Woodsman or a Jack Pine please! Also on the motorcycle front, check out Deus custom motorcycles too. I may have linked to them before. So nice.

Also, why is the Yamaha SR 400 still made, but only available in Japan? That's bike I could go for. It's no vintage Honda, but for a new bike, it's pretty on point to that end.

Someday I really need to get my motorcycle license...

2010-05-10T22:36:00.000-04:00

Getting close to dropping my total unread in my reader to under 50. Close, but not there yet. Here's two items that have been sitting in there for awhile, waiting to be shared. Both a glut of pretty stuff from Lovely Package:

Vintage matchbox lables - That's where the hedgehog/porcupine up top comes from, not surprisingly. Lots of good stuff in there. Love the radio, and the socks & scarf.

Vintage Paul Rand packaging - Love that first box design, and all of the rest of it too, of course.
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Here's one from the dieline that I've been meaning to show you for awhile too:
Studio Spotlight: ilovedust. Their Country Cider packaging is really cute, and the Quality Meats promo piece looks awesome.
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If you haven't noticed before, I'm pretty fond of pedal cars. This one here is pretty awesome, but at $2000, and looking that pretty, would you really want to let your kid drive around in it? They would look pretty suave though...
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The office supply store that time forgot on ACL. How much would I like to go there? How many vintage staplers still in their original packaging do you think are in there? Damn.
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I am already very excited for this movie, and I'm sure it's still a long time coming. Looks awesome though.

2010-05-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

Been doing more book reading than blog-reading this past week. By the way, you should read City of Thieves by David Benioff. Jenna got me to read it, and it was real good. Aside from reading, this weekend I spent a lot of time re-arranging, sweeping, vacuuming, mowing, baking and more. Busy weekend, with satisfying results.
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That image above is a crop of this image from Shorpy. I just love that giant hat.
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Here's an interesting little article on the founder of Best Made Co., who make really pretty axes. I frequently browse and covet their axes. They're really nice, but pretty impractical. If I had a ridiculous amount of extra money, I might buy one though. Like that's every going to happen...

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Living in: Stand by Me. I always find this feature on design*sponge interesting, but this has got to be my favourite so far. I think about this movie, and it's look and feel a lot. Many things trigger it. I've always loved the idea of it, and the image of the boys, and their bedrolls, trudging down the tracks. Particularly the bedrolls. There's just something about bedrolls...
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Speaking of camping, look how pretty these trailers are. Super compact, and super classy.
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Soviet Posters Recreated With Barbie Dolls. Genius.
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Caffeinated Maple-Bacon Lollipops. Wow. These things just have it all, don't they? Damn.
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Just what is letterpress? Here's a nice little Q&A with the guy from Studio on Fire, answering questions about what letterpress is, and why it is currently popular, in case you didn't already know these things...

2010-05-05T09:36:00.000-04:00

I threw together a new desktop background for myself the other day. I'd had the picture of the guy cooking sitting on my desktop for quite some time, waiting to find a use for it. I finally gave up and used it for myself because I love it.

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Boy with Cancer Turns Into Superhero for a Day. Really sweet story. So many people involved! He must have felt to awesome!
------Nick Offerman's Woodshop. Who knew that the guy who plays Ron Swanson on Parks & Recreation actually has a workshop, like Ron Swanson? Not me. But now I do. (Thanks to Sean and Meagan and Sean for bringing this to my attention)
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This is awesome: lots and lots of vintage bullet boxes. Some really nice design work up in there. Seriously.
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A guide for how to pronounce band names. Handy!
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Couch cushion architecture critique. Love it. It's been awhile since I build a good fort. When we lived on Marshall after Jess moved out and before Jenna moved in, Sean and I turned the whole room into a fort. It was pretty amazing. We hung the giant Canadian flag that I own over some chairs, threw some cushions and a mini basketball net in, and a tv at the door, and spent a lot of time in there. Until Jenna moved in and ruined everything!

Don't miss installment 2. Funny, funny stuff. Cute too.
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An A-to-Z guide to how Lost lost its way. Very much agree with most, if not all, of this. Definitely on the Time Invested train right now. Can't wait for it to finish, but can't stop watching until it's done... (thanks to Jenna for this one)

2010-05-03T09:54:00.000-04:00

How cute is a clothesline that comes out of a birdhouse, that goes with clothespins that look like birds that get stored inside the birdhouse? Super cute. How do I get one? (from Canadian Design Resource)
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I always love it when blogs I read feature things that I am kind of obsessed with, but don't really think that (very many) other people are. Case in point: the tent display at Canadian Tire.

Those mini tents pretty much make my day. Sometimes I go out of my way when in there just to go by and see them. That post sums it up nicely when it says "I was instantly drawn to this display. First by its cuteness, but then by its usability." I always want to own one of them. What I would do with it, I do not know, but you know me and wanting...
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Here's a handy little chart that helps you to compare the differences between Akzidenz-Grotesk and the typefaces that came out of it.

Perhaps more importantly, here are some pages that talk about the differences between Helvetica, and its bastardization, Arial.
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Lego disc golf.
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What a weekend! Picked up Conan tickets, went to Ikea, played glow in the dark mini-golf, ate at Chili's, and that was just Saturday.
Tonight I start week 4 of Couch to 5k. A little nervous about it, but also looking forward to it. I think this week is when I move from walking most of the time, to jogging most of the time....

Links!

2010-04-29T09:50:00.000-04:00

Still slogging through my google reader, catching up on posts I delayed reading/sharing during film guide time. So here's a bunch of things from different blogs that caught my interest, and have just been sitting there. Sorry for the ton o' links...
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From BeardRevue:
Enter the Beard trailer - looks awesome!
Mustache Finger Once Removed - perfect combo of the moustache finger and the moustache on a stick.
Don't Worry, My Dad Has a Beard - I will need to get one of these once I have a kid...
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From Uncrate:
Boomer 8N Tractor - If I needed a new tractor, I'd probably get this. New tractor, vintage vibe? Pretty great.
Devon Tread 1 Watch - If I could afford a $15,000 watch, I'd probably get this. AWESOME.
Lecia V-Lux 20 - If I could get a way overpriced camera, I'd probably get this. Nice.
Quadski - If I owned a cottage near a beach, I would totally get this.
iRetrofone - If I owned an iphone, I would definitely want this.
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From Coudal:
Ephemicropolis - A city made out of staples. Neat.
Rock That Font - A blog about the typography used for album artwork. An immediate new addition to my reader.
Tiny Apartment Transforms into 24 Rooms - Crazy.
Muppet Cupcakes - So cute!
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From HighSnobiety:
Converse Japan May 2010 - Why does Japan get such great shoes? I want gingham purcells!
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Annnnd that's all I have time to get through for now. Time to get ready for work, but there are still over 100 things waiting to be looked at!

2010-04-25T01:30:00.000-04:00

I bought a bird house from Home Sense the other day. For awhile now I've really liked bird houses that are designed to look like people houses. Home Sense had a bunch, and at fair prices, so I went ahead and got one. Nice little green house. Now I just have to figure out where to put it...

I'm happy about the new house, but now that I've seen these ones by Jeff Canham and Luke Bartels, I want one of them so badly! They're so cute, and clever. And they make me think of Seth's City of Dominion.
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Speaking of Seth, I swear that this book cover from 1946 or something that I spotted at the book sale the other day could have been designed by him. Particularly the grain elevator building thing on the right.
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Speaking of Jeff Canham, have you seen his work before? His lettering work is amazing. Big fan for sure.
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Cool kids items. Love the first three items there. The trike actually converts to a bike with a penny farthing-esque vibe. The boat is just super cute, and imagine seeing a kid pedal that airplane around!
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I don't know if I think Puma's Clever Little Bag is awesome or terrible. Good call on the environmental front for most people, but I love shoe boxes, and always keep them, convinced I will find some use for them at some point. I guess I don't really need any more though, but then, do I need another re-usable bag, particularly a shoe box sized one?

I'm still on the fence...
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Well this doesn't seem to make any sense: When Ontarians Conserve Power, Wind Farms Will Be Shut Down. What? Money wise, I can see how that's tempting, but it still seems ridiculous.
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Wow, if there was a place like Blood & Bandages in K-W, I might be tempted to pay someone cut my hair for once...

2010-04-20T00:06:00.000-04:00

Finished that one last week for Andy Kim, who wrote such hits as 'Sugar Sugar' for The Archies. Fun poster to make for sure.
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So there's all kind of buzz in the geek world about the 'leaked' new iphone. Gizmodo seems to have verified that it is real.

Every once in awhile I have pangs of regret over buying a BlackBerry instead of an iphone. Believe it or not, seeing these images makes me feel better, because if I had bought the current iphone, and then this model had dropped in a few months, I would have been so disappointed. This new version is so much nicer looking. More functional machine, less toy. Flat back over round is a huge improvement. The gizmodo article makes a reference to this harkening to classic Dieter Rams designs for Braun, which I definitely agree with, and appreciate. It's exactly what I thought of when I saw this shot. Now, when I move out of my BlackBerry in 3 years, if I move into whatever iphone they'll be on then (rather than whatever Google/Android product is out there), I'll be so happy if it's still in the vein of this new style.
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Speaking of things that I would like, as we often are, check out this minifig crank flashlight. This is SO CUTE. And AWESOME. Totally can't justify the $32.90, but I really wish that I could This is one of my favourite things that I have seen in awhile. The fact that you crank his arm? Hilarious, clever, amazing, awesome.
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Check out this interesting little article about the origin of the good Sriracha. I've tried others, definitely not as good. Informative. Tasty.
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Rare Star Wars Images. Wow. Some really great candid stuff in there.
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So you need a typeface. Clever. Funny.
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Film guide prints Thursday. Still way too much stuff to do. Not looking forward to the next few days.

2010-04-14T09:39:00.002-04:00

My Couch to 5K week 2 day 1 plans have been delayed by a rolled/sprained ankle from playing basketball on Sunday. Really hoping I can get back on it today. Very afraid of losing momentum, as I've been known to do.
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Earthquake lifts a layer of dust off a mountain range. What!?
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Did you know that the longest-standing record in gaming history was broken this past weekend? What commitment!
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A Fowl Approach to Bird-Watching poster on For Print Only. Clever. Cute. Funny. I like it. The Shape is great too. If there were more than 7 of them in existence, I might want one.
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This idea is amazing: Wolfpack Hustle crashes the L.A. Marathon course for a 4am bike race on 26 miles of open L.A. road. How often does anyone get to cycle on empty L.A. streets? I'm going to go with never. What an experience that must have been.
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Vans Classic gingham pack. Damn. Though I have never worn any, I love gingham. Would love those black slip ons.

2010-04-08T23:15:00.000-04:00

So happy for spring. Check out these Signs of Spring from The Big Picture. Nice stuff. (via Coudal)

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Helping my continuing failure at not wanting an ipad is the acade arcade cabinet. So cute. So impractical but awesome. I really love those big red buttons and that joystick. That's proper gaming. If you can't have a full cabinet in your house (which, of course, is everybody's dream, right?), this looks like it could be a decent substitute.
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For a guy who used to store and transport his cd's in ammo cases, this would be an awesome ipod dock to own.
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Pillow menus. Have you ever heard of them? I hadn't until I was reading through this blog that features weird things that people have searched online before. Great site. Most of them are super ridiculous, but when I read that someone had searched "Pillow Menus" I had to look them up. Long story short, pillow menus seem awesome, unless they come at a premium. I better not have to pay more for my memory foam! (ps, I don't actually use a memory foam pillow.)

Other entertaining entries on that blog?
"Mapquest, please show me United Arab Emirates." - love the idea of literally asking the internets to do things for you.
"How to draw awesome dragons." - this one's just cute.
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Real life video game driving. Entertaining and informative.
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How did a 4 day week still feel way too long?

2010-04-05T21:59:00.001-04:00

Went back to 365 Bears the other day. I almost forgot about it until Jenna mentioned it. Love that one above. Gotta love Rosie.
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Every weekend should have 4 days. So productive! Today was 5 hours of yard work, plus basketball with Shane and Ian, plus finally starting Couch to 5K. Feeling a little worn out, but pretty awesome. Week 1 day 1 of C25K was easier than I expected. The end seemed like it came too soon, and the end of the first 60 second run period was the biggest shock of all. I really hope that I manage to stay on this...

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I've been making my way through old posts on Clients From Hell. Some of it is very familiar. Some of it I'm sure I will encounter at some point.

A recent post on it led to what is perhaps the worst website ever.
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Speaking of design work, check out this video. It's pretty impressive to say the least. Really makes me want the new photoshop. I actually laughed out loud when they did the desert image.
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Jenna sent me a link to this awesome Strum-Fun Guitar. I have no idea how it works, but it looks great, and in great condition. If it weren't $85, I'd definitely want it.
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Oh, and by the way, if I haven't posted on here in a bit, and you're wondering what I've been up to lately, I've also taken to using Twitter a bit. If you look to the right of this page, there should be a feed of what I've said there. You should be able to click them to see more.

2010-03-29T20:49:00.006-04:00

I haven't linked to anything on Shorpy for awhile, but I had to link to this one. I do love me a street scene, and the look of the old awnings on buildings, so this here was perfect for me. Love it. Go in close and check out the signage, and particularly the guy in the lower right hand corner hanging out in that upstairs doorway.

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Did you know that Mike Rowe used to work for QVC? Marc sent this to me and it's pretty much the best thing I've seen in awhile.

Number 1 question Jenna and I had while watching this? "How long did he do this for?" It can't have been that long. There's no way the people trying to sell Noah's Ark could not have been entirely happy with his representation of it. Also, if this wasn't the 2 a.m. shift, I'd be shocked. There's even more videos on YouTube that I have to get around to watching.

Amazing.

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A couple great items came around through long-time friend Sean:

AMC Greenlight's The Walking Dead. Can't wait. This reminds me, I'm a few books behind. I really need to place that Amazon order that I keep putting off...

Culture that makes you feel old on The Onion. It's a little long, but there's some good stuff in there. That article excitedly led me to this annual list of the 'mindset' of student's entering college, until I realized that it's pretty bullshit. For example, check out 2002 graduates, who were born in 1980. It includes the entries: 14. They have never owned a record player; 15. They have likely never played pac-man, and have never heard of 'Pong'; 16. Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.

I was born in '81, and though it may be odd to some that I currently own a record player(s), and an Atari, I did also own a record player and an Atari as a kid, and was seriously impressed by Star Wars. In fact, I still think the old models look better than the re-issue. I was excited to read through all the years of that list, but now that I've vented about it, I'll never go back.

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If I needed a small mirror, this would be the one, for sure. Construction bear. Cute.

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This is probably about the only way you'll ever see me sporting a G-Shock watch. And even then, I doubt it.

2010-03-25T23:11:00.010-04:00

That was a tempting purchase I left behind this weekend. A glass from the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair, with the Sunsphere likely represented by that red ball in the top left? Nice. Thank you Simpsons for making me care about things I never would have cared about otherwise.

P.S. The Simpsons episode I'm talking about? Gotta be one of my top 5. For sure.

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If you didn't already know this, sometimes my girl Jenna send me some cool stuff. Here's a selection of items she sent me recently:

Michelangelo Nintendo Remix. Impressive. Tragic. Cute.

Larger paper mache animal and human heads. Weird stuff. Check out more crazy stuff from the whole catalog.

Shoes that make everyone the same height. I would not need those shoes, as I am 2 meters tall with regular shoes on. My license says 198cm, which always makes me sad. Why didn't I just say I was 200cm!? It sounds so much cooler.
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Here's a shoe that is definitely on my 'to get' list. Some day. Still kicking myself for a pair I found on sale in my size about 2 years ago and didn't pick up.

Such a classic. Love it. Gotta love A Time To Get for featuring it. Great taste over on that blog.
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Arial, it's a little bit bullshit. Well said.

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This is a great response to the presence of the Westboro Baptist Church.

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President Obama looks at awesome things. Well done! I gotta go with the Tardis as my favourite, just because the Tardis is awesome, but they're pretty much all great.

2010-03-24T09:22:00.007-04:00

SO CUTE.

So glad Patches is back.

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More things from baconbaconbacon:

Here's something that's good for all health-conscious bacon lovers to know. It's kind of weird though. "Due to changes in pig breeding..." What changes in pig breeding changed their fat content?

Damn.

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This may be the best picture I've seen on My Parents Were Awesome yet.

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Wow, there are some amazing looking pictures in this book. The drive in, the cop staring at the camera, the tree in the pool, the spotlight beams and the glowing lights. All amazing. I wonder what the rest of the book is like?

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I can't believe I didn't link to this when I first saw it (thanks Josh Chong for reminding me): Handsome Gentleman's Club

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Surprisingly I've never read the comic, but I am very excited for the movie version of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

2010-03-23T00:06:00.005-04:00

So much lego stuff going around these days! Check out these art pieces. This one is definitely my favourite.

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THIS is super clever logo design. Love it.

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Rubik's cube for the blind. Can you imagine trying to do that? I mean, as a sighted person with no knowledge of braille. Well, either way, those things are hard!!

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Stormstache. I feel like I link to a lot of Star Wars stuff on here. It's funny because I'm not really a big Star Wars fan. I mean, I like the (first 3 [by year made, not year set]) movies and all, but I was never a huge fan or anything. Just an appreciator. And there's a lot of neat/cool/funny stuff that huge fans make.

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USB 'thumb' drive. Jenna and I seem to sit on opposite sides of the fine hilarious/creepy line mentioned. (In case you're wondering, I'm on the hilarious side...)

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Probably the only time I'll mention U.S. health care reform on here.

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Wrecking ball lamp. Awesome.

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Spaced Flash Mob Slo-Mo Gunfight. Hilarious. Awesome. Wish I could have been there.

2010-03-18T09:45:00.000-04:00

Labatt, will you please go back to the above label design for 50? The current one is pretty much the worst I've seen. It was pretty nice when it was printed on the bottle and had that massive 50, but this version, and this version were still better. This trippy, multi-lined one though, for sure my favourite.

Also, Labatt was making an India Pale Ale in '54? Interesting.

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I've been spending some time on the twitter lately. One of the best things I've seen yet is this picture of Questlove from The Roots. Even as a kid, big afro and drumsticks. Apparently he's always been awesome.

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If I didn't already really want to see it, this poster for Kick-Ass (and Doug Benson's tweets about it), would totally solidified that want. Check out this red-band trailer.
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New blog on the radar thanks to the DDC getting burned on it. Beardist. Beard wearer. Beard fan. Call me what you will, I do love love things beard related...

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In a slew of beard link clicking that followed getting to the previous blog, I came across this amazing shirt design: Beard River. Beards and bears, two things I very obviously love. The print on the shirt is actually a little big for my usual liking, but I would wear that shirt, based on its beardy-beary-ness alone.

2010-03-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

If Fonts Were Dogs. Been thinking about dogs a lot lately. Not ready for one yet, but maybe someday. Looking at adorable puppies on kijiji is both great and terrible.

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Hobbit houses in real life. How long have I wanted to live in a hobbit hole (just ignore how poorly I might fit in one for a second...)? Pretty much for ever. Neat stuff.

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Nintendo cartridge harmonica. So clever! Awesome!

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Fixing monuments with lego. Clever & awesome as well. Neat stuff.

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Hey Marc, speaking of things you might in a beautiful dream, check this out. OH MAN could not be more correct. I want to eat that. Of course, the chance of dying immediately would be high, but it might be worth it... Except I just realized that it looks like it's made with cheese slices. Missed opportunity on that one.

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While looking for something else today, I discovered these shoes, and instantly became obsessed with the idea of them. Neat stuff. I'd like to try on a pair. Buying them seems impractical obviously, but just to try them on could be pretty cool.

2010-03-14T23:10:00.000-04:00

Hitchcock Re-envisioned. Can you tell I love these sorts of re-imaginings? Thanks Coudal for sharing yet another one. Personal favourite? The Birds. For sure. A style I always enjoy seeing variations on.

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Do you know about the Razzie awards? They're given out on Oscar eve, and are basically the opposite of the Oscars. Awards are for Worst Movie, etc, rather than best. Sandra Bullock won Worst Actress (for All About Steve, not The Blind Side), and actually showed up and made a speech. I don't think that happens very often. Pretty awesome.

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Best commercial on television right now? The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. Seriously. When this comes on, I stop fast-forwarding, just to watch it again.

In a genius marketing move, this commercial is actually paired with a shorter commercial, that reminds you how of how awesome the first commercial was, and is pretty solid itself. Basically if you're watching a show, the long one would come in the first commercial break, and the short on in the second. Smart!

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This letterhead for Hugh Hefner from 1955 would still look hip today.

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Normally I don't like it when other companies make Chuck rip-offs, but this pair has a gore-tex lining. Do I want a pair? Why yes, yes I do. Chuck style AND dry feet? Thank you!

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If the Coen brothers made Star Wars...

2010-03-09T09:29:00.004-05:00

New poster up this week. Not my favourite I've done, but it should do the trick.
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Conan is on tour (love the tour name, btw), and we missed getting tickets by like seconds. Seriously, we actually had a pair up on ticketmaster, dropped it to try to get a better pair, and then couldn't get anything. Kicking ourselves for that one. Itching for a second date to get added. Fingers crossed!
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Have you seen the trailer for Tron: Legacy yet? You should.
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Record grooves under an electron microscope. Neat!
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GrainEdit has been posting some stuff I've been loving recently (not surprisingly...). Check these out:

Old Shell ads. Love the lines. Love

New HP ads. Impressive!

Naive: Modernism & Folklore in Graphic Design. Looks like a great book.

Tom Eckersley. Such great work. I don't know if I can pick a favourite on that page... The Panda, the handshake, or keeping britain tidy... Please, pick one for me! I've seen his work before, and it's just so damn good.

2010-03-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

How awesome would it have been to receive a letter on that letterhead?

Where does letterheady find all of these great letterheads!?
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Things to watch!

The Sandpit - pretty great tilt-shift-esque film about "A day in the life of New York City, in miniature.

AFOL: A Blocumentary - Adult Fans of Lego! Great little doc.

Logorama - The video is at the bottom. I've really been itching to see this Oscar nominated animated short. It did not disappoint. LOVE it. (edit: I started this post days ago, and since then this short became not just Oscar nominated, but an Oscar Winner. I was so excited for it.)

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Since Leno's back on the tonight show, here's Plenty of Reasons to Just Say No to Jay Leno.

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Hey Marc, here's one of the things I wanted to tell you, and then forgot today: The Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger from Carl's Jr. How much do I want to eat that? A LOT.

Funniest part of that blog post: "It was apparently first invented by Carl’s Jr as a vegetarian option for their menu, but some executive said, “Why not add a beef patty and bacon”? Brilliant."

Have I mentioned how great of a blog baconbaconbacon/It's All About the Bacon is? I love it. But it makes me hungry (and jealous of people who can go to Carl's Jr.).

2010-03-03T19:11:00.003-05:00

I recently added the Coudal Partners blended feed to my google reader, and it has been both great and annoying. They simply post too much stuff! There are tonnes of posts every day, and I so often want to share them here, or go back to them, so I keep marking things unread. I had 30 items unread from them, and that's just going back a few days! Here's some of it...

Amigurumi Star Wars characters. Adorable!

Stock footage reel from Expo '67.

Chris Mottalini photography. Check out the 'mistake by the lake' series. I always love seeing school bus shelters. There's something about them that I find really appealing.

What colour are you? My colour? Black. Perfect.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. At some point I really need to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Awesome photos of amazing models. Nice work!

More Michael Johannson.

Motorcycles of WWII.

So thanks Coudal, but slow down, would you? I don't have that much free time!

2010-03-02T09:00:00.006-05:00

Another of last week's new posters. Still more to do this week.

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Here's a couple fun things before this post get's serious:

Bea Arthur Mountains Pizza. Obviously like Selleck Waterfall Sandwich. Not as good, but I do love Bea.

Really nice Glidden design work. I'm not sure if this is student work or not. Kind of looks like it, 'cause I doubt you'd see paint cans in that shape. It would be cool to though! The word mark is so cute!

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Have you heard about what's going on with downtown Brantford? Here's a nice little summary that Ben Ong shared on google. It's been on my radar for a little while now and I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Particularly that there's no real plan as to what to do when the building's come down. Reading through the comments, someone posted a quoted from the Mayor that made me so mad: "I think the worst mistake we could make is to have a solid plan. Let’s just take it down and look at what we have got. Then we can start deciding together what should go there.”

How stupid does that sound?

Something else that I think only comes up in the comments that I think is of particular note: "Within those 41 historic buildings we have the longest stretch of remaining pre-confederation buildings in Canada."

Here's a witty take on it all from the point of view of Hamilton.

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And now here's where I annoy people...

So I watched the big game on Sunday. How exciting! What I don't get though, is this celebration in Uptown Waterloo. I get that everyone is all excited and all and want to be together, but what a ridiculous place to do it! All I can think of when I see that is nuisance. Check out the ambulance slowly making it's way through the crowd 1 minute in. I don't know for sure that they weren't just there to celebrate, but it does look like they're on their way to the hospital, possibly with someone dying inside. Oh, but just keep celebrating, don't worry about that person...

This would have been the perfect occasion for a gathering in the square. What would have been really neat would have been to set up a screen in the square and make it a big event (maybe this happened and I just don't know about it...). But then I guess everybody had to drink while they were watching the game, hence the party in the video happening in the epicenter between bars. And of course none of them would want to bother to go down the street to where there's a big open area, so clearly the middle of the street is a good place to party.

I don't know. I get it to an extent. The heat of the moment, the joy of other people, the excitement, the patriotism, etc etc etc. But it all just seems like a big inconsiderate mess to me.

2010-02-26T19:55:00.003-05:00

EXCITED. Jenna found this on etsy today, and I bought it instantly. I've seen one on ebay once before, and was sure I'd never see another one again.

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I don't know about you, but we've been watching a lot of Olympics around these parts. I'm glad it's almost over though, 'cause I'm getting real sick of how much filler there is in the coverage.

Obviously, a big part of any Olympics is the graphic design. This is a pretty cool little video about Olympic pictograms. I have to say though, I really don't agree with it's assertion about the two good sets since 1984. Both sets from '68 and obviously the Munich '72 set are awesome. And pretty much nothing has been good since then in my books.

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Loving these Bacon Takedown images. Mmm, bacon. (thanks baconbaconbacon)

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Here's a nice classic Sesame Street bit, featuring some kids learning a bit about letterpress printing.

Speaking of letterpress, if you don't know much about it, there was recently a little overview of one person's printing process over on Design*Sponge.

2010-02-25T22:34:00.004-05:00

After feeling like I've been lagging on poster work for awhile, I busted out 3 posters in the last few days, so that they can get up for the weekend. Feels good to be productive. I'll get them up on gigposters sometime soon.

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Don't forget, Layer Tennis is tomorrow. Someone mentioned that last week they couldn't figure out how to get to see each volley. If you click "The Match Preview" it'll take you to this page, which is the page for tomorrow's match. As the match gets going, keep an eye on the numbers on the bottom right hand side of the box, as they'll become links for each volley. Check it out on the page for last week's match here.

I'm so excited that some of you also seem interested in watching Layer Tennis!

Check out an in depth re-cap of last week's match by the competitors here.

I know I said last week that I thought Felton would win, but in the end, I was won over by Vinh's volley's 6, 8 and 10 (which I mostly loved, minus a thing or two. Love the rectangles that become the previous volleys, and, though unsubtle, I think images of the Catacombes are impressive).

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Jenna's mom's friend Ellie sent me this link this week. I remember hearing about someone doing really impressive Etch-a-Sketch art a few years ago, I wonder if this is that same guy? Cool stuff.

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So much minimal re-imaging of book cover and movie poster art these days! This Stephen King set really fits into both groups. Trying to pick a favourite I managed to cull it down to either Carrie or The Shining. Carrie so nicely sums it up in one bold, simple image, The Shining does that, but then makes the image complex. Both awesome. You should just check them all out though, because the Firestarter one, and the Misery one are pretty cool too. And I dig the trees in the Stand by Me one.

2010-02-22T21:45:00.005-05:00

That's a lot of tree! Seriously, how could those two horses pull all of that weight? Impressed. Well, impressed, and feeling kind of bad for them. Awesome image though. Thanks once again Shorpy!

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To continue to the thread of awesome (and overpriced) shelves from two posts ago, these tetris shelves are awesome. Seriously, awesome. And expensive! $2630? Ridiculous! Plus $150 freight charge? Yipes!

I did find a price on the triangle shelf from the other day too... $3500... Yipes!!!

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These Converse First String chucks have popped up a few times in my google reader. The more I look at them, the more I would LOVE a pair of the grey ones. Subtle changes from the regular chucks, but so nicely executed. I'm sure they'll be pretty far out of my price range though...

Speaking of Converse, check out this 1928 Converse letterhead. Neat.

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Bacon potato chips? I am kind of tempted to order some of these. They DO combine two of my favourite things...

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As you may or may not know, I have been using self-made duct tape wallets since about grade 10 when I sat down and made a copy of my old wallet. Using the same design, I've made a lot of wallets over the years, for myself, family, and people who have bought them from me. It's something I've always been kind of proud of, and extended to foam padded ipod and laptop cases for myself.

I'm verging on being a traitor to myself though, because I really like the look of this wallet. If it wasn't $29, I'd have already bought it. Inner conflict is brewing on this one for sure, both on the pride and on the price. (I know it's not really all that pricey, but when your wallet budget has been $0 for 14 years, any amount is a big change!)

This all comes out of Jenna pointing this bag out to me. Which is a pretty tempting purchase too, but again, the price is currently holding me back.

This mini wallet is really cute too! Such great fabrics over there!

2010-02-19T12:53:00.002-05:00

Ahhh! Layer Tennis starts today!
I was recently wondering when the layer tennis season would start, but I kept forgetting to check it out. Thank god for email notifications, 'cause it turns out there's an exhibition game today. YES!

For those of you who don't know, Layer Tennis is basically competitive designing. Two designers volley images back and forth, each having 15 minutes to create a response to their opponent's previous volley. It's good stuff. Posted live, in real time, with commentary (that obviously comes a little after each volley, as the commentator sees it when we do).

I LOVE layer tennis, even if I can't really watch it live because I'm at work when it's on...

By the way, my money's on Felton. Nobody can graphically represent data like that guy. Always impressed.

2010-02-18T23:57:00.006-05:00

I LOVE that shelf. I have no idea how big it is, and I'm sure it probably costs a ridiculous amount of money, but I am coveting it pretty hard right now. Here's what was said about it where I saw it on Design*Sponge: "Imagine it floating alone on the wall, merchandised with memories and other precious possessions. Beautiful and amazing." Could not agree more.
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I made reference to My Parents Were Awesome the other night, and found out no-one I was with knew about it. I assumed everyone did. It can be pretty entertaining, and I know I've got some pictures of my dad that would go well on there. Whether he'd hate me for sharing them or not, that would be up for debate...

Recent highlights in my books include: Tom and Jan (LOVE the VW sweater. Vehicle/clothing matching is key.); Alan and Barbara (AMAZING.)

It's good to be reminded sometimes that your parents used to be young, and potentially awesome. Before they got old of course...
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Speaking of families and photos, have you seen Awkward Family Photos before?

The Final Frontier has to be the best one I've ever seen on there. Hands down. Best.
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I have seen some pretty great music boxes in the last few years (like these ones from Something's Hiding in Here), but the sound of these ones that The Lovely Package featured seems extra nice.

Seriously, I swear when I listened to You Are My Sunshine, I almost cried. So nice. I always find that song sounds somewhat tragic, and that aspect really comes through when you listen to the version they have up there.

Other highlights? The Simpsons, and valse d'amelie (1)
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I find the first image in this Design Porn feature on James Deavin so striking. I love the idea behind that series, and all of the images look pretty amazing. I'm definitely going to have to give his site a good once over.
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Mar/Apr film guide is done. Maybe now I'll be able to feel caught up on something. Oh wait, there's all the work I put off to get that done, and then our big March Break festival... Fun.

2010-02-15T00:01:00.003-05:00

Still feeling behind after being out sick, especially when it comes to my internetting.

Best thing I've seen on the internet this week? This 365 bear project. Seriously. So cute. So many bears! Click each one for bigger pictures! (but I think I love the page full of mini bear faces best!)

Best part of the Olympic opening ceremonies? The spirit bear, of course.
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Ever wonder how a polaroid picture works? This video by the office of Ray and Charles Eames explains not only the SX-70 SLR Polaroid camera, but it also explains what happens to the film after you push the button.
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Michael Johansson showed up in my google reader 3 times last week, so I thought I should link to him too. It combines my love of well packed spaces, and vintage items. The first place he showed up was on Grain Edit, and I love the quote from him there: "I am fascinated walking around flea markets finding doubles of seemingly unique, though often useless objects I have already purchased at another flea market. Despite the fact that I did not have any use for them even the first time, the desire to own two of these objects becomes too strong to resist."

I know that feeling! But most of the time I can resist it...
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Have you heard about the new Heinz ketchup packet redesign? I am (perhaps sadly) excited about this! The dip functionality, and also the ability to get all of the ketchup out of the package, is something that always bugged me about the old packages. This new one looks to have solved that. I'm intrigued as to how well the squeeze functionality will work, but I guess I'll have to wait and see.

2010-02-07T17:28:00.004-05:00

What a weekend. I got a new phone, and the flu. I've been bed/couch-ridden since Sunday afternoon. Not so pleasant.
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I'm loving this moon globe. The owners run a vintage shop on Etsy where they sell a lot of things that are pretty up my alley. Definitely worth taking a browse through.
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These minimalist Star Wars travel posters are pretty great.

So are these object-based tv images.

I need to carve out more time to design stuff just to design stuff for my own fun and enjoyment. That's what things like this always make me think of...
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Wes Anderson's Spiderman. Josh Chong shared this on Google reader. I have to admit, I thought it was going to be crap. I was pleasantly surprised!
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Exit Through the Gift Shop. Bansky makes a movie? I may have to put this on the 'must see' list. It's definitely on the radar, and I need to find out more about it.
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Check out these awesome van designs on A Time to Get. Nice find!

2010-02-04T00:23:00.009-05:00

Bears everywhere!

Oso Ice Cream. Cute bear in a scarf!

Bear family! From the cover of a 1966 Eddie Bauer catalog discussed on ACL.
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Speaking of bears (when am I not speaking of bears?), have I mentioned Message to Bears yet? EP 1 has been a go to pick for me when I've been listening to music for the last couple months or so. I don't remember where I first heard it, but I clearly checked him out based on name alone, and was definitely not disappointed.

My top recommedation? Found and You're Safe. Or maybe Swim. It seems you may be able to (illegally) download all of his stuff here. I had no idea there was a split release, so I'll be grabbing that for sure. More music, and potentially another band to get into? Yes, please.
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I generally find it pretty interesting when people do photo-a-day projects. This is the most comprehensive one I've ever heard of. March 31, 1979 - October 25, 1997. Damn.
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How is The Big Lebowski not on this list of Jeff Bridges' best films? Unacceptable.
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Pterodactyls are pterrifying. I'm sure Eileen would agree.

2010-02-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

At my meeting with my sister yesterday she showed me Selleck Waterfall Sandwich, and I thought I should pass it along. Ridiculous.
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Another interview people/musicians that I love! Racoon Wedding on Side B. Good stuff. As always, I love what Tim has to say about Brantford. Also, boozy is definitely a good descriptor for their music. I love the brawl-y, boozy, drunken sing-a-long vibe of their stuff.
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Do you want to play one of the weirdest video games I've ever played? First person Tetris. It hurts my head!
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Tiny Living Room Inside a PC. I don't remember how I found this.
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Came across this one at work today: flexible cd/dvds. More environmentally friendly, more versatile. Interesting.
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Millenium Falcon Bed. Seriously ridiculous.

2010-02-02T00:17:00.006-05:00

Last week my (proper) use of the term bindle was questioned which got me off on about an hour long search of Hobo related things on the internet (we may or may not have been watching The Littlest Hobo at the time), and I came across this picture on wikipedia. I've really been loving it since, so I thought I'd share it with you.
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Look, it's an interview with my friend Ben Ong, about his band Bocce! Two great things in this world.
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This here giraffe on the Guelph Graffiti blog sure is cute!
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I have found my new choice of vehicle for use in the Zombie-pocalypse: the Armour Horse Vault XXL. Protection AND luxury.
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Worst collab. ever? I guess the end result isn't as bad as it could be, but still, when I saw that these two highly overrated brands (I guess Tommy Hilfiger seems pretty down these days, but Haring seems to be a totally undeserved and annoying upswing) were working together, I immediately wanted to puke. Why do people like either of these brands? (I say brand as, even though Keith Haring was a person, his legacy does live on in the brand associated with his name.)
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Edie Harper, Charley Harper's wife, and a respected artist in her own right, passed away last week. Read a bit about her on Grain Edit. Talented couple for sure.

2010-01-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

Highlight of my weekend? Big metal letters. There were even bigger letters, but they were too big to bring home. Not pictured here is the ampersand, which was the first one I got, before I knew I was going back to get more.
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Loving this set of stamps. I think electricity is my favourite. Nice find Grain Edit!
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Field Notes for kids! Cute! I'm also somewhat coveting these Threadless special edition Field Notes.
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How much do I want one of these 1940's Explosion Proof Telephones? Not $250 worth, but A LOT. They are awesome looking. Actually, there's a ton of really neat stuff over there at Agent Gallery Chicago. Not that I could afford most of it, but it's nice to look!
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I love the look and feel of this picture of the construction of the New York City Hall subway station in 1904. Striking. Thanks once again Shorpy!

2010-01-30T21:18:00.002-05:00

I am loving this radio from Science & Sons. It's definitely making it's way around the Canadian design blog world. Clever idea for sure. One national radio company, two channels; one radio, two presets, one big switch. You use a tuner on the bottom to preset 1 & 2 to CBC1 & CBC2, and then flip away. The grill is a clear homage to the classic CBC logo we all know and love. I'm sure it'll be way out of my price range when it actually comes out, and I never actually listen to CBC2, but I am definitely coveting it, and you can hook an ipod up to it (also good, because most of what I listen to from CBC1 I actually listen to as podcasts anyway...)
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Lejonet & Bjornen. This Swedish ice cream company's new packaging was featured on Lovely Package, but what I was really struck by was that logo! That bear WANTS that ice cream. Will he ever get it?

From what I can see of their old logo, this new one is a huge improvement. The old one looks like too much teddy, not enough bear.
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Disney shut down Miramax this week. At one point in time they produced some of my favourite films, and they've definitely been a part of a lot of good stuff, with and without the Weinsteins. Check out what Kevin Smith says about it in there: "for one brief, shining moment, it was an age of magic and wonders. I'm crushed to see it pass into history, because I owe everything I have to Miramax. Without them, I'd still be a New Jersey convenience store register jockey. In practice, not just in my head."
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I wish this squirrel weren't so expensive!

New Things

2010-01-25T09:30:00.001-05:00

Kitchen pictures are up on flickr. I finally got around to it. The set has the pics from the original real estate listing, then ones we took after we had gutted the place, then what it looks like now. I wish I had a wide angle lens, so that I could get more in and have it not look so cramped, but what can you do? Don't ever hire me to be your real estate photographer...

Very happy with the outcome. It feels way too nice to be my kitchen. I'm so glad that we pulled the fridge and stove back into the room and put that new bathroom back there. Love it. Couldn't have done it without the help of Jenna's parents, very thankful for that. I've got pictures of Ron and I doing some of the tiling that I'll post later (Jenna was tiling too, but taking the pictures, so she's not in them).
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Jenna bought me a WD TV unit for my birthday and, if you ask me, it's one of the best things ever. Since we bought our new tv on boxing day, we'd been watching a lot of downloaded videos by hooking my computer up to the tv. It was nice to watch things on the tv, but it was really annoying me that I couldn't use my computer while watching things. With the WD TV, we download stuff, put it on my USB drive, plug it into the tiny little WD TV box, and blam, it's on the tv. We've watched so much stuff! Lots of tv, a few movies. Good times. Highly recommended if you enjoy watching downloaded videos.
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For Christmas, Jenna's mom bought Jenna Bananagrams, and I highly recommend it as well, if you like word games at all. It's like Scrabble, but there's no board, and you play off your own words trying to use up all your letters before your opponent(s). Love it.
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Also new, I finally have my full G driver's license. Got it Friday.

2010-01-20T19:10:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not have heard, Kate McGarrigle died yesterday. I'm not going to pretend like I was a big fan or something, but I will say that I think that the amount of times that I saw The Log Driver's Waltz as a kid has to have had an impact on both my love of things lumberjack and birling related, and my love for and appreciation of the NFB. Two pretty big things, if you ask me. So have a watch, and appreciate it. I do love their voices. Maybe now is the time to finally get around to listening to more?
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Speaking of the NFB, I think I need to order this shirt, since they have it on black now...
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Crazy concept furniture. Seriously crazy. But awesome. I know I'd like to hit a big cube of metal into a chair...
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Lego guitar. Nice. If only the neck would hold under the tension of the strings...
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Fischer Price Merry Mutt. SO CUTE. Jenna sent me this one and I love it! Such a scrappy looking little pup-dog! If only he wasn't so expensive...
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It's been awhile since I've posted pictures from Shorpy. I recently re-read Time and Again, in which the protagonist travels back in time to New York in the 1880's. I love the book for how jealous it makes me of him. Recently there's been a spate of NY in the early 1900's on Shorpy, and I really wish I could jump into them. Check 'em out:
Flatiron Rising: 1902
Brooklyn Terminal: 1903
The Bowery: 1900
Death Star: 1902

This one I meant to share before Christmas: Toy Story: 1923. How did we get from that crazy tree shape to what we favour now?

Don't forget to click 'view full size' to really get in there on some of them. Check the signage in the background at the terminal for one. "Carters Little Liver Pills" is a nice one. So is the half covered part of the Quaker Oats sign that declares it as an option "Instead of Meat."

Oh, those crazy Vegetarians...

2010-01-20T00:58:00.000-05:00

Image from Kaufmann Mercantile. Love it. And meat.
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Here's another nice one from KM, the George Nelson Flip Clock. I've always enjoyed flip clocks, but this on takes it to a whole other level. Classy. So often they're encased in plastic, here the mechanics are part of the design, rather than just the functional back end.
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If I were ever to spend $1000+ on a turntable, these would be high on my list. Pretty.
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This recording of LBJ ordering some custom Haggar pants is a pretty great listen. He is very specific in the changes he wants in the waist, pockets, and crotch, even though he does deem the ones he already has to be "the best that I've had anywhere in the United States." Thanks to A Continuous Lean for linking to that gem.

"The First Diet Cola For Men"

2010-01-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

I may have gotten a little of the ol' scalp sweats with my lunch today. It's not the hottest thing in the world, but Stagg's Dynamite Chili definitely has some bite. I do believe I'll be buying another can.
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I guess this commercial came out over a year ago, but I just saw it for the first time yesterday. I feel like I should hate it, but in the end, it's totally true for me. I am a pretty big Pepsi Max advocate. All the benefits of Diet Pepsi, but it doesn't taste (entirely) like aspartame, and it has extra caffeine? Yes, please! I'll drink diet if there's nothing else, but if you ask me, aspartame is not an 'artificial sweetener,' it's a 'make things taste like aspartame-r,' and that is not a flavour I really like. You get a bit of it in Pepsi Max, but not a lot.

"Men can take anything, except the taste of diet cola."
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This ad gives off a vaguely Addams Family vibe to me, in that it looks playful, but it also kind of makes me afraid to find out what's inside it. In the end though, I find it ridiculously cute.
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I just upped some new posters to my Gigposters page, if you want to check them out. I feel like I'm missing some, but I can't remember what. I'll have to check later.
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Kitchen photos should be going up on Flickr later this week if I have time, if you're interested. I'm excited to finally share!
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Patchy post at best. Feels like that kind of week. I'm already itching for it to be over...

2010-01-14T09:30:00.012-05:00

How much do I want to try Bacon Bourbon Caramel Corn? A LOT. That's how much.

"The intersection of smoky bacon, popcorn and rich, bourbon caramel...This is where sweet meets savory!" Sounds so good!
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Favourite quote recently? "You can do anything you want in life, unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too." Good one Conan!

And a nice show of solidarity from Letterman in this one: "In the television industry, there are two types of talk-show hosts: Jay Leno, and those who have been victimized by Jay Leno."

Some good info about the Leno ratings drop here.
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This tab has been open in my Firefox for pretty much ever, and I keep forgetting to post it: What's He Building in There on MTV. Nice work guys.
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Have I mentioned before that I love Glee? It's going to be way too long to wait until April for more. In the interim, here's another video that I keep forgetting to post that might help getting through that wait: Behind the Scenes of the Kiss. So cute.

2010-01-13T10:42:00.005-05:00

Lots of Conan love going on on the internet today, and that makes me real happy.
Here's a bit of Dave talking about it.
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Jenna and I have finally started watching season 2 of Parks and Recreation, and I have to say, they are killing it over there! There have been a few down spots, but mostly, a lot of just straight awesome. I've heard ?uestlove has been loving it too, calling it the Wu-Tang of comedy. Check out this video here for proof!
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More TV! TV TV TV! (sorry about all the TV...)

I started watching Sons of Anarchy today, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it, two episodes in. Weird to see Charlie Hunnam grown up and not on Undeclared. Awesome to see Ron Perlman being a somewhat normal dude, albeit the head of a biker gang...
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If you are interested in the weather at all, and live in KW, I highly recommend checking out the UW Weather Station online. I have been putting off reading this year end summary blog post, because it is so dense with interesting info about the weather in the region over the past year, and I wanted to give it its due. All kinds of interesting tidbits over there. I have their Mac application running on my work computer, and love being able to glance at the time, and also get an accurate report of how cold it feels out (it gives either actual temp, or feels like) at the same time. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I do find this stuff pretty interesting.
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Finally, don't forget to vote on what cities should be included in Monopoly Canada. I guess Waterloo doesn't warrant being on there itself, and has to be written in. I guess its small mention in the Kitchener entry is supposed to be enough?

2010-01-12T17:30:00.000-05:00

A couple new blogs popped up on my radar recently.

A Collection a Day 2010. Looking forward to seeing how this one goes. I do love collections. Picture above is from this one.

Letterheady. A collection of company letterheads. Not surprisingly, this one is the one that really sold me on the thing. There are probably ones I like better on there, but none I'd rather see in my mailbox...

Will definitely be adding both to my google reader.
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Jenna showed me this Tyco Lego phone on etsy yesterday, which I totally remember wanting when I was younger.

Here's a small collection of novelty phones I spotted today. Some I'd seen before, some I hadn't. This Jordache Jeans phone falls in the latter category, and is ridiculous and amazing.
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Here's another one Jenna sent me: Bear-ly contain myself teacup. As she said in her email 'this is almost enough to make me drink tea'. It's also almost enough to make me spend $30 on one mug. But in the end, it is not enough to do either of those things. It is damn cute though.
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Speaking of things that are almost enough to make me drink tea, the labels and the name of Andrews & Dunham's Damn Fine Teas, also fit in that category. Designed by Aesthetic Apparatus, that's some damn fine packaging. This bad-ass metal inspired label is my clear choice.

Ooh! Check out the hand-screened labels from Series 1 & Series 2 as well!

If you never have before, you should swing by Aesthetic Apparatus' website and check out their other fine work. This might be one of my all time favourite posters (Sue, you might recognize that hand [or one like it] from our trip to the Olympia factory)

2010-01-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

Conan O'Brien Says He Won't Host The Tonight Show Following Leno.

I've been dying to know what Conan would decide on this, and I am so happy with what he has come out and said. I thought the whole giving Leno the 10pm show was pretty much the worst idea in TV ever when it happened, and think that this whole 11:35, 12:05, 1:05 lineup is ridiculous, and offensive to Conan. If Leno's show is a failure, then it's a failure, and Leno and his show should pay the price, not everyone else on NBC's late night lineup. TV without Leno would be a much better place.

2010-01-11T17:53:00.004-05:00

Stumbled across this one today, to which I say bullshit. If they every try to remake Back to the Future, someone will have to die. We finally got Eileen to watch Back to the Future on New Years Eve, and she liked it. Of course she would, it's actually a good movie. I guess the Karate Kid, and Footloose for that matter, aren't really what I would call 'actually good,' but I still hate to see childhood favourites remade. Footloose, perhaps surprisingly, I would have been more okay with if Zac Efron was still going to be in it...
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Speaking of movies, in case you were wondering, Youth in Revolt on Thursday was pretty great, and the promo screening was pretty poorly attended, which made me sad for the movie, but happy for me because I hate crowds.

This weekend we also watched Post-Grad, because Alexis Bledel was in it (and Matt Saracen... Now that I think of it, the fact that he was in it turned out to be its only redeeming factor). Turns out it was SO MUCH WORSE than I ever expected. And I expected bad. There were so many parts that were just unnecessary. Who decided that the family storyline bits were a good idea? That's what we wanted to know.

Tonight it's a family affair as Jenna, her parents, and I are going to check out The Blind Side. I'm not expecting too much in depth, but I am expecting to enjoy it for what it is.
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On to the Hip Hop portion of this post:

Lloyd Banks was arrested in Kitchener (!?) - The big question that this news raises is: Brantford has a dance club big enough to host G Unit members? Seriously though, what they did is pretty messed up. Follow the link in the Record article to see a picture of the victim (Thanks to Hilary for the heads on that one)

Diddy's Wad Infiltrated by One Dollar Bill - I find the incredulous look on his face hilarious. (Thanks to Ben Ong for sharing that gem on google [and for sharing some memory gems on Friday night])
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Big and Little. One of the things that we enjoy around our house is big and little counterparts. For example, I always enjoy seeing stuffed animals who have their own, smaller, stuffed animals. These two separate Box Vox posts are perfect for me. I fell for the packaging signs right away. The bread at first, and then the Crayola box especially once I spotted it. Then when he threw down the dollhouse stuff this morning, all I could think of was 'damn, this guy knows how to get to me!' Tiny bacon? And is that tiny Vegemite?

Who loves packaging more than Randy Ludacer? I do not know.
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I want this book!!! Yet another vintage kids book to keep an eye out for.

2010-01-07T08:59:00.004-05:00

So it's my birthday. I wasn't really going to say much about it, but I was working on a poster that involved fireworks, so I thought I'd throw a piece of that up there.
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Thinking about it this morning, I think that this last year has been pretty great for me. I don't think I've really thought about it much because some people I care about have had pretty off years, but it may even be one of my best. At times I've been more tired and stressed than other years, but the house, being a part of the wedding of two people whom I think are awesome, all of the things I've learned, all of the people I know, and many other things, have all contributed and made 28 a pretty solid year for me. Lets hope 29 does not disappoint.
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This is a little late in coming, due to it's Christmas-ness, but Jenna showed me this last night, and I just had to share: Jimmy Fallon x The Roots x The Muppets - Twelve Days of Christmas. Gotta love them. Little Robin is just so cute!

Here's another clip: Jimmy and the Muppets impromptu rendition of 'One'.

How much do I want to just hang out with The Muppets?

They don't have a clip of just the end of the show, where all The Muppets (minus Sam the Eagle, who is clearly embarrassed) throw down dancing to The Roots, which is too bad, because it was probably the best part.

2010-01-07T01:20:00.000-05:00

Great times at tacos last night. Sorry to anyone if I got too passionate about anything. Blame Bernard for telling me I got to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about...
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Hopefully tomorrow night we'll get in to see Youth in Revolt. I was given a double pass for tomorrow's preview screening, but wasn't sure if I'd want to have to sit in a packed theatre. We're gonna try it out though. It'd better be good!
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This is a tough one. I'm thinking about buying the new Joe Meno book, The Great Perhaps. The big question is, do I go for this cover, or this cover? I'm pretty sure I'd go with the first one, but there's something that I really like about the second as well, like the bird, and the text book looking bomb. I certainly won't go for the paperback, even though I usually prefer paperback, because look how brutal that cover design is, in comparison to the other two especially.
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If I ever have a home bar, this is the bottle opener you will find in it. Hell, I might even have to get one to mount in the workshop once we get around to tidying and setting it up. Almost time to get to that...

Birthday Tacos.

2010-01-05T09:30:00.002-05:00

The Tuesday closest to your birthday is, by default, your birthday tacos. I've missed a number of taco nights recently, but I certainly won't be missing tonight's!
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By the way, yes, that is a taco on our Christmas tree. I am so happy with our first Christmas tree here, and we both have been getting sad that its going to have to go. The shape is perfect (for us), and there are so many little things that I love on it! I'm uploading pictures right now to my flickr account, so check it out later to see more.
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I haven't been posting much, because we've either been busy working, or busy relaxing. We just finished Dexter season 4, which was amazing. So stressful at times! So good! We're almost finished the kitchen. We put up the backsplash over last week, and grouted this weekend. I"ve always wanted to try grouting, and definitely enjoyed it.

I've been asked why I haven't put more pictures of the house up here. I should be doing that soon. I haven't to this point because I don't want to ruin the final impact of the finished project. I want that punchy before and after, you know? So give it a week or two.
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I've also been neglecting my google reader, so there's not much to share, but here's a few things:

Mini chair jewelery. Awesome. Reminds me of the mini replicas of famous chairs you can buy (and that my friend Jen G. has some of, making me jealous of her).

Record covers re-done with super heroes. Have I ever mentioned that I owned a sleeveless Purple Rain sweatshirt when I was a kid? Sleeveless. Sweatshirt. There's a picture I'll have to find...

Vans Spring Classics. All in light grey. Nice. Damn I'd love those Sk8-Hi's.

This kid is so stylish! Seriously!

2009-12-29T02:43:00.002-05:00

Finally had the day I really needed during this 5 day weekend. I know everyone seems to find the holidays stressful, and mine was no exception. Sunday night we actually celebrated New Years early, so we could party with the same 'ol crew we party with every year, even though some of us won't be around on the real night. Today all I did was recover from that with about 4 ep.s of the first season of Gilmore Girls on the new tv, some Mario brothers, both new and old, and a little back splash tiling with Ron. A good day for sure.

Hopefully I'll get back to sharing neat stuff with you soon, you know, now that all the craziness is somewhat done.

2009-12-23T18:07:00.000-05:00

Today is the Friday of my 5 day Christmas weekend, which I NEED.
Still a few presents to buy tomorrow. Gonna be a hectic day.
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The picture above is from Neato Coolville. It was toss up between that one and this one. Also, I always remember really wanting one of these. Just because of the way it looked. So cute.
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Wow, I would love to go to The World's Largest Toy Museum in Branson! Sounds like a good time to me!
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This is pretty impressive, both design/production wise, and for the fact that I had no idea that facebook makes donations in their advertisers' names for Christmas. That's pretty cool. It's also cool that you get to decide which public school gets the donation with this one. Good stuff facebook.

2009-12-17T17:30:00.002-05:00

If I were to give out awards for favourite movie poster of the year, you can be pretty sure that the poster for A Serious Man would be right up there near number one. The tones are really, really nice. It's just a nice, subtle poster. I hope the movie is good. I'm going to try to get out to see it here at the Twin. Opens tomorrow!
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Blog worlds collide today! A Continuous Lean gets featured on High Snobiety!? I guess this is pretty much the most street wear-ish item I've seen featured on or come from ACL, but it still struck me as pretty crazy. Do I want the ACL hat? Yes I do. Do I want to pay $60 for it? No I don't.

You gotta love ACL though. I haven't had time to fully browse his shop, but things seem to keep popping up on there. Not that I can afford any of it, but you know. Also, if you do love ACL, I recently started reading Kaufman Mercantile, which I would say share's some of ACL's ideologies. Here's their tagline: Many products move from factory to garbage dump with little time in between. Poor design, low quality materials and bad food infiltrate our lives. Let's enjoy the good things instead.

Being discussed over there today? Kitchen towels. Good stuff. From our cute Orla Kiely for Target ones, to this classic that I'm always tempted by at Ikea, I do love a good dishtowel.
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Speaking of things featured on High Snobiety, this shirt is a bit of a burn. I appreciate the message, and the execution, but definitely not a message I could get behind wearing.
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Speaking of wearing, I don't wear any manly scents, but every once in a while I think maybe I should, or I see a product that makes me say 'hey, if I were going to wear a scent, that sounds like the one for me'. Vintage Black from Kenneth Cole is a case of the latter. The name alone is great, and the vaguely ink bottle look and the simple, bold label pull me in further. The scent description "top notes of fresh green lime with a dry oakwood to create an icy tequila accord" minus the tequila reference, sounds pretty okay too.
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HA!

2009-12-17T09:22:00.004-05:00

I keep going back to this Audi image. Stark and simple, but stunning. The confidence it exudes is amazing. So much different from so many car ads. (Thanks to Grain Edit for linking to that one)
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Film guide is done. We're never done this early in the month, and it's going to make this Christmas a lot more relaxed. It was a stressful time to lock it down so early, but totally worth it.

Our living room is finally painted, and the Christmas tree is up. It feels so much more like home now in there. And it only took like 6 months! Dining room is painted, but will be painted again this weekend. The colour we picked was just not quite right...
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Here are some tabs I've had open for awhile, either to look at again (and again), or to share:

Ampersandwich tee - Pretty funny. Not quite totally doing it for me, but enjoyable.

French Paper Company and Charles S. Anderson Design - Nice promotions!

Cabin and Cub desk calendar - I love the idea and look of calendars, but I've never been big on using them. This one almost got me to buy it. It's pretty great, and bears!

Swingline staple gun & box - Jenna sent me this one, and I would LOVE to own it. Once you add in shipping though, that cost is just totally impractical. The label on the side in picture 3 is pretty great.

Baby Kermit Glass - Another one from Jenna. SO CUTE.

Lotta Nieminen Birds - Love so much about this image. Grain Edit featured a couple of her pieces. All are good. This one's the best though.
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Few, my Firefox is way slimmer now! Hope you enjoy some of that stuff.

2009-12-15T01:02:00.000-05:00

Hard at work on the Jan/Feb film guide. It prints Wednesday and still lots to do! I stopped by one of my secret spots for grabbing high res. movie images and spotted the poster above. I can't decide if this poster nailed the concept it was going for, or totally failed. I think the perspective on the key vs. the perspective of the door lock just keeps knocking my brain a little. I think the idea was kind of doomed from the start if they really wanted to feature that much of the key, you know? Perspective. I think the motif works a little better without the pictures mucking it up.

The thing is, I still really quite like the picture version though.

Okay, okay, this poster is even better! Why is Shirley MacClaine's head so BIG?

Wow, and things get even weirder here.

11.5 hours at work today. Film guide almost done. More finishing up going on in the house. Pictures maybe to come soon. Tiring times. Looking forward to Christmas for sure.
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Speaking of work, the back side of this coin makes me think of 'work'. Not bad, tiring, annoying modern work, but solid, honest, work, good strong handshakes, that kind of work, you know? Anyway, I keep going back to look at that coin. It's a fine piece of work. Proud, Canadian work.
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Regardless of my own beliefs, any story about a church being defaced or destroyed always gets to me. Just the thought of doing that is repulsive to me. The destruction of something with such age, history, and meaning is just terrible in so many ways. I was listening to an interview with the minister at that church on my way home from work tonight, and I just keep thinking about it, and how that whole community must feel right now. Appalling to think that someone may have done that. What a shame.

2009-12-11T00:37:00.000-05:00

Damn, I just googled my Dad's name and found out he's been blowing up the news since September! I guess he's started a monthly service that people are encouraged to bring their dogs to. Sounds like cool stuff. Here's a couple articles if you want to check it out:

Filling the Pews ... with Paws from the Montreal Gazette (this one seemed to get circulated on the wire)
Pet Value: Quebec church launches 'paws and pray' from the Anglican Journal
Montreal hot for jet-set pets from Canoe.ca (not just about his church, but mostly, and some good quotes, one of which contradicts one in another article! shocking!)

Things like this, and quotes like “I always like to push boundaries a little bit,’’ definitely make me proud of the guy, so I just had to share.

(Image from here)
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Nancy Grows Up. Audio recordings of a girl growing up, reduced to just a little over 2 minutes. Heard this one on RadioLab, and had to find a version I could share. Very neat, and cute, and touching, and kind of sad in it's own way.
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More people I know in the media: Ben Ong on Jimmy Fallon. When I saw Ben mention this on Facebook, I totally thought it was a joke. Turns out it's true! And awesome! Yay Ben!
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Speaking of friends, Marc sent me this one, Bear Sleeping Bag. Crazy.

2009-12-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently blogging fell apart on me last week as we found ourselves shopping for house stuff every evening.

This weekend, as the image above indicates (which was an awesome project to get to do, by the way), was Marc & Celene's wedding, which was a great time. Good people to hang out with all over the place. And now that it's over I can finally wear my groomsman shoes out and about. Got 'em on right now.

Hopefully I'll get back to posting more now, but we'll see, it's film guide time at the Princess right now...
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Jenna sent me this one and my only response was 'DAMN.' Nice stuff.
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Sometimes I just don't know what to make of Richard Linklater. I really want to love him. He made one of my favourite movies, employed some great sounding practices while doing so, and has also made a number of other interesting films. But then he's also made some crap.

I guess I didn't realize that Me and Orson Welles is one of his, but when I saw this poster for it, it just made me think that he's out to make some money, you know? I do think that the movie could be good, but the marketing is just so lacklustre and pandering feeling, you know? Citing School of Rock (mainstream, fun movie) and Before Sunset (romance!) is obviously toeing the mainstream line, versus the possible tag of 'From the Director of Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, and A Scanner Darkly,' which would definitely get ME to watch the movie. It's just hard to know what to make of such fluctuations.
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Speaking of artists fluctuating back and forth from mainstream to underground, Shepard Fairey designed the program for the Grammy's? Seriously? It's like, the worst award show.
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Somewhat entertaining, definitely tragic: Tacos exploding in slow motion

2009-11-26T20:17:00.007-05:00

Put the finishing touches on this one last night. Excited to see it up, especially if it gets printed on the paper Jenna suggested.
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Speaking of Jenna, her and I tend to send each other a lot of links. Lately she's been killing it, sending me some great stuff that I just have to share.

When Polar Bears Attack - Extremely adorable. The first picture just kills me. Have I ever mentioned to you that I wish the technology existed to keep a baby bear a baby so that I could own one? I know the moral implications of that would be iffy, but how great would that be?

Wood Meets Metal - Faux Bois and Real Bois together! This buckle is awesome! Way out of my price range though, well, more even than I would spend on a buckle ever (probably). Still, nice.

Brass Boxing Bear - THIS IS AMAZING. I got so excited when I opened this link. Also, note that it appears to be a bookend, so there has to be at least one more of them out there. How great would that be to own?
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Cowches? Cowches. The picture they use in the first link is great and makes me want one (not that I would ever get one, but you know...). Some of the pictures on the actual site make them look a little less awesome. Cute idea though, and the name is obviously genius.
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One more Muppet video...
This one is a real tear jerker. I've always thought about looking for it , but never have until now, because I knew it would make me cry. Big Bird at Jim Henson's memorial service. So sad. The way his voice breaks slightly at times and the ending just kill me.

2009-11-25T13:30:00.007-05:00

The Canadian Design Resource posted about this awesome pattern today, which led me to check out the Curse of the Multiples website, and spot that image above. They're both pretty great, and there appears to be lots more where they came from.
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Gotta go door handle shopping soon for our new closets. Even if this one actually existed, I don't think Jenna would go for it. Truth be told, neither would I, since it definitely would not go with our house, but it's just easier to blame her and keep my cool factor high.
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More hand stuff - This leash here is creepy, but also kind of cute, if you ask me at least. Not that the hand itself is cute, more that it gives you an instant significant other to stroll with.
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Muppets all over the place today!

Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody - This is being linked all over the place! It takes almost 2 minutes to get good (and then of course sucks briefly when Miss Piggy shows up), but it is pretty entertaining. Lots of good characters in there.

Dr. Doozer video #1 - A little teaser leading up to the release of the collaboration between Dr. Romanelli and Fraggle Rock. I still have no idea what to make of this, or what's coming, but I am keeping an eye out for mention of it on highsnobiety. I don't think I've ever seen the instrument the human guy is playing with in this video, it looks awesome though!
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Keeping on the streetwear/highsnobiety kick, here's another collab. that I'm interested to see what happens with: The Hundreds X Delorean Motor Company. Yes, that Delorean Motor Company. I'm a fan of The Hundreds' Adam Bomb logo, and a bit of their actual product, so something good could come of this...

I guess they've been hanging out with the DMC people lately, so there's some interesting posts on their blog here and here.
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One more from highsnobiety: Porter x Star Wars luggage collection. Have you ever seen a classier looking take on the Star Wars franchise?
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Back to videos and muppets... I just found this one, and I desperately want to see more of it! I love how a lot of the time Kermit is just sort of there, like a person. Nodding along, etc. Great video.

2009-11-24T09:21:00.011-05:00

These pictures are from this great NY Times post Marc mentioned the other day. (Though I actually ended up finding it on my own, and realising it was what he was talking about...)
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Skipped taco's this week for various reasons, but got some work done on the Starlight's New Year's poster. Sending an early vers. to Shane now to see what he thinks, since he is DJ'ing the night and all. Want to get it done by Dec. 1, which is surprisingly close!

If all goes to plan, next week we'll have a main floor bathroom and 2 new closets! So close to getting to take 'after' pictures to go with the 'before's.
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Penny Farthings! Somehow the possibility of this never occurred to me before, but here's a company that makes classic Penny Farthings (and some awesome other stuff). And here's a modern Penny Farthing. I'm sure there are more companies that make each, but I was just excited to realize that these exist. Old timey. Neat stuff.
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Speaking of old timey neat stuff, I may have mentioned this before but, I love the fixtures and shades made by Schoolhouse Electric. So nice. But too expensive! I'm not sure if I like the new 'artist series' ones, but the classic looking painted ones are a nice touch.
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McSweeney's Internet Tendency started running a feature recently called Flip: A Column About Skateboarding. Not surprisingly from a literary based website, it features more grown up discussions about skateboarding. I just started reading this article, and before I even finished it, decided I should share: Ed Templeton: Professional Skateboarder/Atheist.

While I'm not necessarily an atheist, he did hit part of my beliefs right on the nose here:
"My belief system is that I believe you can do good things, and reach out to people and have morals and God can have nothing to do with that."

I also like how he says that he feels atheism shouldn't be in the closet, and that he's being more outgoing about it, which is something I've been struggling with some lately. I keep wondering why I feel bad about putting my beliefs out there when someone who has strong religious beliefs likely would not, and being annoyed by my fear of offending people by publicly not believing. I accept that both believing and not believing are entirely valid opinions, and even if I didn't, I feel most believers would have no fear of offending me by publicly declaring belief, I'm afraid of their backlash to my own non-beliefs.

How's that for a topic that came out of my reading a discussion about skateboarders/skateboarding? Only from McSweeny's.

(Speaking of Templeton, if my aforementioned attempt to get Objectified to show at the Princess works out, we may also feature this awesome looking doc. that Templeton is a part of, and which I've been dying to see.)
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Finally, if you loved that bear shirt I posted about as much as I did, there's a reprint coming, so keep an eye out here. (I emailed them before and it turned out they had one extra XL, so mine's already on its way!) No wearing it at the same time as me though!

2009-11-23T13:51:00.010-05:00

This post here reminded me that I still needed to post a pic of this sweet plate from the '68 Olympics in Mexico that I found not too long ago. Love it. I especially love the way the Olympic rings line up with the bottom halves of the 6 and the 8. Nice touch.
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While looking up some info at work I ran across this article about ATM's in London using Cockney rhyming slang. I find Cockney rhyming slang fascinating, in as much as I know very little about it and it barely makes sense to me, and the fact that these machines are using it is very amusing to me. I'm still not sure if I like it or not, but it is amusing. Have you ever had an ATM that said "I am processing your request"? That sort of personification I know I don't like.
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Anyone want to take me on a trip to MoMA? This exhibit would be pretty awesome to see.

There's a pretty cool little behind the scenes/interview video with Tim Burton here.
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Speaking of museums, on an impromptu emergency trip to Hamilton/Burlington this weekend (we had to buy a vanity that apparently none of the Home Depot's in town had...) we drove past The Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology. That's a place I'd like to make a visit to. Jenna didn't seem too keen on the idea though. It's the steam part that really interests me, of course. The building alone, and the old train station beside it, already piqued my interest before I knew what was inside. Hopefully I remember to go back sometime...
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I guess I'm losing all of my street cred by being so behind that Saddle Creek already signed them, but lately I've been really into The Rural Alberta Advantage. I'm pretty sure I saw them at least once a few years ago (had to mention this to try to retain some cred...), but I finally got around to getting a copy of Hometowns recently, and I love it. It's one that Jenna likes too, so it's actually good for listening to in the car, which a good chunk of stuff that I like is not, so that's awesome.

Though I really like the whole thing, I'm loving this: Don't Haunt This Place
(Wow, and I'm losing even more cred as I just realized that this is the song you can get for free off of the Saddle Creek site. Did I just fall for the single?? Who am I!?)

Anyway, regardless of if I'm ahead of the game anymore or not, this song is good, and you should listen to it. Solid and earnest. As I said to Jenna the other day, when they say that they need something, it really feels like they need it. So good.

2009-11-19T17:45:00.000-05:00

Ack! The newest Field Notes colours dropped today for mailing list subscribers. Much like the letterpressed "Grass Stain Green" summer edition, I knew right away I needed them. The colours are pretty much exactly the colours I love, and look pretty in line with some of what we're doing in our house. Since previous editions of colours have sold out in less than 24 hours (ridiculous for a notebook? yes.) I bought these bad boys as soon as the email came in. Can't wait.
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Wow. While I love bears, and I love t-shirts, I find that most of the time when they meet it's more in the over the top, big nature, mystic bear vibe, and that style just ain't for me. But this shirt? This shirt I want. (though it would be better if it weren't red. I'm not big on red. Still, though, want.)

Seriously. Actually, in case you can't be bothered to click the link, here:
THAT is a good bear shirt. (thanks to Draplin for linking to that one.)

Damn! Just noticed: X-Large (sold out) DAMN.
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Still on the t-shirt tip, here's another one that's kind of tempting.
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Do you like the drums? Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich drum battle. Nice one. Impressive, the both of them. But, I think I've gotta with Buddy on that one. Killed it. (thanks to ACL for linking to that one.)